
G!ass__E_IIlj^__ 
Book Na/7:2> 



n 



THE 



TWELVE STARS 



REPUBLIC: 



OUR 



NATION'S GIFT-BOOK TO HER YOUNG CITIZENS. 



ELEGANTLY ILLUSTRATED. 



NEW YORK: 

EDWARD WALKER, 114 FULTON STREET, 



1850. 



l;^503 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, 

By EDWARD WALKER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, iu and for the Southern 
District of New York. 




STEKEOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE, 
13 Chambers Street, N. Y. 

. N. GUOSS.MA.N, PUINTER, 12 Spruce SL 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



To MY Young Countrymen — 

Permit me with fraternal earnestness and regard, to direct your 
attention to this constellation of brilliant names in the broad firma- 
ment of our Republic. With all the skill that mind and art can 
command, I have caused this volume to be prepared for your instruc- 
tion and delight. The memoirs were written by that eminent stati- 
cian,] Edwin Williams ; and the introduction (was penned by my 
much esteemed friend, iB. J. Lossing, the author of my book enti- 
tled, Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Six, and editor of my Young 
People's Mirror. These names will insure your confidence and 
esteem. Intrinsic value marks every line ; and from this mine of 
instruction you may draw up an abundance of the pure gold of prac- 
tical knowledge, concerning the progress of our government, so 
essential in fitting you for the responsibilities and honor of a good 
American citizen and wise legislator. Contemplate these twelve 
bright stars with an earnest desire to be worthy of their companion- 
ship ; for with such aspirations, if you do not become one of the 
brilliant cluster, you will shine brighter in an humbler sphere, and 
shed a degree of lustre upon yourselves and your country. That 
you may thus profit by exertions in your behalf, is the sincere wish 
of Your friend, 

The Publisher. 



"V 



CONTENTS. 



Description of the Embellishments page 7 

IxTRODUcTioN, with Biographical Notices of the Presidents of Congress before 

the Adoption of the Constitution 9 

Biographical Sketch of George Washington 25 

Washington's Farewell Address 81 

Biographical Sketch of John Adams 91 

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Jefferson , 99 • 

Biographical Sketch of James Madison 109 

Biographical Sketch of James Monroe 115 

Biographical Sketch of John Quinct Adams 123 

Biographical Sketch of Andrew Jackson 135 

Biographical Sketch of Martin Van Buren 159 

Biographical Sketch of William Henry Harrison 175 

Biographical Sketch of John Tyler 201 

Biographical Sketch of James Knox Polk 219 

Biographical Sketch of Zachary Taylor 229 

Historical Sketch of the American Union 267 

Declaration of Independence, with Facsimiles of the Signatures of the Signers . 285 

Articles of Confederation 293 

Constitution of the United States , 301 

Successive Administrations, Members of the Cabinets, Debt of the United States, 

&c., from 1789 to 1849 317 

Public Ministers of the United States to Foreign Countries, from 1789 to 1849 . 321 

Summary of the Census of the United States for 1840 327 

Table of the Progress of the Population of United States fi-om 1790 to 1840 . 327 

Synopsis of the Constitution of each State in the Union 329 

Chronological Table of the Principal Events in American History, from its Dis- 
covery in 1492 to 1849 359 



DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBELLISHMENTS. 

Independence Hall. — This venerable and venerated edifice, wherein the 
great act that proclaimed freedom to America was performed, is on Chestnut 
street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, Philadelphia. It was originally built 
by the legislature of Pennsylvania, for a statehouse. It was begun in 1729, 
and finished in 1734, at a cost of $280,000. The two wings were erected in 
1739-'40. The architectural design of the house and steeple was furnished by 
Dr. John Kearsley. The old bell that rang merrily on the adoption of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, was imported from England in 1752, but being 
cracked at the trial-ringing, it was recast by Isaac Norris, of Philadelphia, and 
upon it was placed the inscription, " Proclaim liberty to the land, and to the 
inhabitants thereof." That office it performed twenty years afterward. The old 
bell still hangs in the steeple, but hopelessly cracked. The hall where the 
Declaration was signed is, in appearance, the same as in the Revolution, and 
is situated upon the street floor, on the left of the principal entrance. The Dec- 
laration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson, at his private 
lodgings, in the house of a Mr. Graaf, on the southwest corner of Market 
and Seventh streets, Philadelphia. 

It is related, that, on the morning of the day when the Declaration was 
adopted, the venerable bellman ascended the steeple, and a little boy was 
placed at the door of the hall to give him notice when the vote should be con- 
cluded. The old man waited long at his post, saying, " They will never do 
it ; they will never do it." Suddenly a loud shout ttame up from below, and 
there stood the boy, clapping his hands and shouting, " Ring ! Ring !" Grasp- 
ing the iron tongue of the bell, backward and forward he hurled it a hundred 
times, proclaiming " liberty to the land, and to the inhabitants thereof." 

Bunker Hill Monument. — This noble monumental structure marks the 
spot where the first regular battle of the Revolution- took place. It is upon 
an eminence in Charlestown, near Boston, and is composed of granite from the 
neighboring hills. The corner-stone was laid on the anniversary of the battle, 
the 17th of June, 1825, by the venerable Lafayette, then the nation's guest, and it 
was dedicated by an eloquent oration from the lips of Daniel Webster. The mon- 
ument is a hollow obelisk, 221 feet high, and 30 feet square at the base, and is 
ascended by an interior spiral flight of stairs of 295 steps. For a long time, 
want of funds caused the progress of its erection to cease, but in September, 
1840, the ladies of Boston, assisted by contributions from all parts of the Union, 
held a fair, from which they realized about $40,000. The work was imme- 
diately recommenced, and the monument was finished in 1842. On the 17th 
of June, 1843, a celebration was had in honor of its completion, and again 
Daniel Webster was the orator. A large number of soldiers of the Revolution, 



8 DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBELLISHMENTS. 

some of whom were in the battle 68 years before, were present, together with 
the president of the United States (John Tyler) and all his cabinet. The 
whole weight of the monument is estimated at 7,000 tons, and so well and 
firmly is the foundation laid, that it will stand for ages, a noble memento of 
the first battle of our War for Independence. 

The Capitol of the United States, in the city of Washington, is con- 
sidered one of the finest statehouses in the world. It is beautifully located 
upon an eminence 73 feet above the Potomac river, and from its dome is a 
noble view of the whole metropolis, and of the surrounding country. The 
building is constructed of white freestone, and covers an area of more than an 
acre and a half. The length of the front is 352 feet, including the wings ; the 
depth of the wings is 121 feet. A lofty dome, which covers a magnificent 
rotunda within, rises from the centre building. Two lesser domes rise from 
the wings. Along the eastern front is a projection 65 feet wide, with a noble 
portico of 22 lofty Corinthian columns. On the western front is a projection 
of 83 feet, including the steps, and a portico of 10 columns. By the side of 
the steps on the eastern front is a beautiful marble group by Persico, repre- 
senting Columbus and an Indian girl, and in niches in the walls under the 
portico, are fine marble allegorical statues. The height of the building to 
the top of the dome, is 120 feet. The rotunda is 95 feet in diameter, 
adorned near the dome with basso-relievos representing scenes in American 
history. Its walls are decorated with fine historical paintings, for which Con- 
gress appropriated $10,000 each. The library room of Congress is 92 by 
34 feet in size, and 36 feet in height, and contains 25,000 volumes in arched 
alcoves. In the second story of the south wing is the hall of representatives, 
of a semi-circular form, 96 feet long and 60 feet high, with a dome supported 
by 24 columns of variegated marble, with Italian marble capitals of the Cor- 
inthi.an order. The senate-chamber occupies a similar position in the north 
•wing. It is also semi-circular, 75 feet long and 45 feet high. Below the sen- 
ate-chamber is the room of the supreme court of the United States. The 
building contains 70 rooms for the accommodation of committees and officers 
of Congress. The grounds around the Capitol include 22 acres, and are highly 
ornamented with shrubbery and gravel-walks, the whole enclosed by an iron 
railing. The building cost $2,160,000. 

The President's House is a mile northwest of the Capitol, upon a gentle 
eminence, 44 feet above the river, toward GeorgetoAvn. It is an elegant edi- 
fice of white freestone, two stories high, with a lofty basement. It is 170 feet 
long and 86 wide. The north front is ornamented with a fine portico of 4 lofty 
Ionic columns, projecting with three columns. The outer intercolumniatioa 
is for carriages to drive under to shelter company when alighting. The build- 
ing stands in the centre of 20 acres of ground, beautifully laid out in gravelled 
walks, and ornamented with floAvers and shrubbery. The apartments within 
are admirably adapted for the uses they are designed for, and are elegantly 
furnished. 



INTRODUCTION 



" We hold these truths to be self-evident — that all men are created 
equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with ceitain unalien- 
able rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- 
piness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among 
men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that 
whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, 
it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new 
government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its 
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness." 

Such were the lucid apprehensions of the true character and mission 
of government which were entertained by the founders of our republic, 
and expressed by them in their solemn declaration of the political in- 
dependence of the Anglo-American colonies. From the moment when 
the English felled the first tree at Jamestown, or the Pilgrims cleft the 
snow on Plymouth beach, loyalty had been the co-woi'ker with religion 
in planting English institutions in wilderness America, and in strength- 
ening, by population and the industrial arts, the puissance of the British 
realm. Magna Charta was the political bible on whose teachings and 
guaranties the English colonies rested all their hopes of civil and 
religious freedom ; and the spirit of the British constitution was never 
lost sight of in their social arrangements and legislative enactments, 
even when oppression had aroused the lion of rebellion and the blow 
was struck which dismembered the empire. That act, itself, was a 
vindication of the dearest rights of a British subject which the constitu- 
tion recognized, and professed to defend. 

When the " Seven Years' War" ended in 1763, at a cost to Great 
Britain of five hundred and sixty millions of dollars, and a thriftless 
ministry otherwise exiiausted the treasury, it became necessary to de- 
vise some means to replenish the public coffer to save the government 
from a ruinous fiscal embarrassment. The wealth and prosperity of the 
American colonies had long been a theme for gratulation in Old Eng- 
land ; and the cheerfulness with which men and money had been raised 
for the public service through the late war, was an assurance that fui*- 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

ther drafts upon their generosity would not be dishonored. Such drafts 
were made, but in the wrong way. Money was demanded, not ashed 
for, and taxation was imposed without the consent of those upon whom 
the burden was laid. The burden, it is true, was not grievous in itself, 
but the political principle involved was one which lay at the foundation 
of civil freedom ; and if the assumed rights and powers of the parliament 
of Great Britain were to be tacitly assented to, abuse after abuse of 
privileges might enter so wide a door, until the liberty guarantied by 
the British constitution would be destroyed, and the colonists would be 
reduced to the vassalage of serfdom. 

These evils far-seeing statesmen of America clearly perceived, and 
warned the people to awake to the same pei'ceptions. The warning 
was heeded. They winced under the lash of commercial restrictions, 
and they rebelled, as far as loyalty to their sovereign would permit, when 
the stamp-act cast off the disguise of ministers and revealed the despot- 
ism that stood ready with its fetters to bind the free Britons of America. 
Henceforward contentions arose. The British parliament assumed the 
right to tax the colonies of Great Britain, without their consent. The 
colonies raised the standard inscribed, " Taxation and Representa- 
tion one and inseparable^ Ten long years they humbly petitioned and 
remonstrated. They loved the parent-country, revered her institutions 
and laws, and wei"e proud of their connexion with such an empire. But 
their loyal prayers were answered by other and greater oppressions. 
Insults succeeded oppressions, threats succeeded insults, and armies 
came hither to execute those threats. The colonies confederated, and 
by representatives, consulted and acted for the general good. They 
still clung to the hope of reconciliation ; but at length that radiant star 
waned in the firmament, clouds gathered in the political heavens, and 
the alternative was presented of lesistance and freedom, or submission 
and slavery. The choice was soon made, and the weapons were 
speedily prepared to sever the last tie that bound America to Britain — 
the ligament of political union. 

In June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, one of the master- 
spirits of the revolution, stood up boldly in the continental Congress, 
and, denouncing the British government as an instrument of oppres- 
sion most foul, and the king as a tyrant whose behests freemen were 
not bound to heed, sent a small slip of paper to the desk of Charles 
Thomson, the secretary of Congress. He rose with solemn countenance, 
but clear, firm voice, and read as follows : " Resolved, That the United 
Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; 
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown ; and 
that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Brit- 
ain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." These words were few, but 
pregnant with great consequences. They formed the dedicatory ora- 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

tion at the planting of the tree of liberty — they were the first notes of 
that full diapason of harmonious defiance which arose loud and clear, 
from every hill and valley of our beautiful land, and awoke responsive 
echoes among the hopeful in the old world. 

Royalty, relying upon justice and a lingering hope of reconciliallon, 
yet lingered in the continental Congress, and some shrunk back from 
the fearful responsibilities assumed by that resolution. But Lee, the 
Adams's, Jefferson, Witherspoon, Franklin, and others less conspicu- 
ous as speakers, were bold and firm in its support, and their strength 
seemed to increase in proportion to the growing timidity of a few. "I 
should advise," said Samuel Adams, " persisting in our struggle for 
liberty, though it were revealed from heaven that nine hundred and 
ninety-nine were to perish and only one of a thousand were to survive 
and retain his liberty ! One such freeman must possess more virtue, 
and enjoy more happiness, than a thousand slaves ; and let him propa- 
gate his like, and transmit to them what he hath so nobly preserved." 
Such sentiments like electricity, pervaded the whole solemn council, 
confirmed the wavering, and strengthened the already resolute. A 
declaration, in conformity with the resolution, setting forth the causes 
which impelled the colonies to a separation from the parent-state, 
was prepared, and on the fourth of July votes from all the colonies 
were obtained in favor of the resolution and the adoption of the dec- 
laration. On that day the decree went forth affirming that the " Uni- 
ted Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; 
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British , crown, and 
that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Brit- 
ain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as free and inde- 
pendent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, con- 
tract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things 
which independent states may of right do." This declaration was 
signed on that day only by John Hancock, the president of Congress, 
and thus sent forth to the colonial assemblies and to the army. The 
great body of the delegates signed it on the second of August fol- 
lowing. 

The adoption and signing of the declaration of independence, was 
but the initial act in the founding of our republic. It was an easy 
matter to declare the states free, but all men saw the vastness of the 
the labor that must be performed, and the privation and sorrow that 
must be endured in suiyporting that declaration. Already the great en- 
ergies of the British government were concenti'ating in efforts to crush 
the now formidable rebellion here. Armies were already in our midst 
— fleets were hovering upon our coasts — German hirelings were filling 
transports to come hither to plunder and destroy ; and in every neigh- 
borhood, aye, in almost every household, more dreaded secret enemies 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

who, through principle or interest, adhered to the crown, weakened 
the patriot cause and strengthened the oppressor's arm. 

In all the colonies the royal governments were overturned, and con- 
stitutions wfere adopted by the people represented in council, consonant 
with the spirit of the declaration of independence, and conformable to 
the political wants of each state. So extended was the geographical 
area, and so dissimilar were the social habits and industrial pursuits of 
the thirteen insurged states, that there could be said to exist scarcely a 
semblance of political union, except in the federal Congress and the 
federal army, and these depended for existence and vitality upon the 
presence of a common danger and a desire for the promotion of the 
common welfare. Confusion was everywhere visible, and nothing but 
a stronger confederation, bound by a covenant of political union, prom- 
ised to hold the colonies long together. This was at length effected ; 
and on the fifteenth of November, 1777, Articles of Confederation 
were adopted, and became the organic law of the land. 

This step toward a permanent federal government was good as far 
as it went ; but it was soon perceived, that the reserved sovereignty of 
the individual states, and the jealousies that naturally arose out of sec- 
tional I'elations, rendered the general Congress weaker than before, 
and quite inadequate, in power, to carry on the complicated opera- 
tions of government with efficiency. But the strife of war and the 
contention of parties within, occupied too much of the mind and en- 
ergies of the people to allow of further legislation upon that subject, 
and it was left for the establishment of peace to devise a better gov- 
ernment. This was finally done ; and in September, 1787, the present 
Constitution of the United States was adopted by the conven- 
tion appointed to " revise the articles of confederation." It was rati- 
fied by the several states, after long and vigorous debate, and on the 
30th of April, 1789, George Washington was elected the first president 
of the United States, in conformity to the provisions of the federal 
constitution. This was really the crowning act of the Revolution — this 
was the birth-day proper of our happy republic, for all that preceded 
it were but the labor-throes of pi'ogress in bringing forth this comely 
child, the pride and glory of the earth. 

Although Washington was the first president of the republic under 
the federal constitution, yet he was not the first president, in fact, of 
the United States. The presidents of Congress during the first insur- 
gent period, and afterward under the articles of confederation, held 
the same political relation to the people (though with much less power) 
as the president now does. They were each, in turn, the chief magis- 
trate of the nation, and as such it is proper to associate them, by brief 
mention, with the twelve whose biographies compose this volume. 
There were fourteen of them during a period of fourteen yeai's and 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

eight months, oi* from September, 1774, to May, 1789. They were 
elected to serve only for a session of the body that raised them to the 
dignity — were merely chairmen of that body — and yet their office was 
the highest in the gift of the people. We will notice them in the order 
of their election and service. 

Peyton Randolph. — The first continental Congress met in Car- 
penter's hall, Philadelphia, on the 5th of September, 1774. There 
were fifty-five delegates elected, representing twelve of the thirteen 
colonies, and all were present but those of North Carolina, who did 
not arrive until the 14th. Georgia was not represented. Peyton Ran- 
dolph was appointed president, and Charles Thomson secretary. Mr. 
Randolph was a native of Virginia, and descended from one of its 
oldest and most respected families. Like other young men of the ar- 
istocracy, he was educated in England. He chose the profession of 
the law, and such were his talents that he was appointed attorney-gen- 
eral of the province as early as 1756. In that year he engaged with 
one hundred gentlemen to band as volunteers and march against the 
Indians on their western frontier. He was for some yeai's a member of 
the house of burgesses of Virginia, and at one time its speaker. He 
was one of the delegates from Vii'ginia to the first continental Con- 
gress, was chosen the chairman, or president, of that body, and was 
also chosen president of the second Congress, that met in Philadelphia 
on the 10th of May, 1775. On account of sickness he was obliged to 
resign his station on the 24th of that month and return to Virginia. 
He afterward I'esumed his seat as a delegate in Congress, and died at 
Philadelphia, of apoplexy, on the 22d of October, 1775, aged 52 years. 
Toward the close of the session of 1774, he was obliged to be absent, 
and his place was filled, the remainder of the term, by 

Henry Middleton, a delegate from South Carolina. His term of 
office was but of a few days' continuance, for the session terminated on 
the 26th of October. Mr. Middleton was very little known in public 
life. He was the son of Arthur Middleton, the first royal governor of 
South Carolina, and, with his more distinguished son Arthur (one of 
the signers of the declaration of independence), early espoused the 
patriot cause. He was a man of great wealth, and therefore his stake 
was greater in the issue. Both himself and son suffered severely in 
estate during the conflict. He remained a member of Congress until 
1776, when he retired from public life. Of the time of his death we 
have no record at hand. 

John Hancock. — When Peyton Randolph left the presidential chair 
on the 24th of May, 1775, John Hancock, a delegate from Massachu- 
setts, was elected to fill the vacancy. Mr. Hancock was the son of 
John Hancock, a pious minister of Braintree, in Massachusetts, and 
was born in 1737. He graduated at HaiTaid college, in 1754. On 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

the death of his uncle, Thomas Hancock, a benefactor of the college, 
he received a large fortune, entered into commercial business, and 
soon became one of the leading merchants of Boston. He was chosen 
a member of the Massachusetts assembly, for Boston, in 17G6, with 
James Otis, Thomas Gushing, and Samuel Adams. One of his vessels, 
named Liberty, was seized on coming into Boston, in 1768, charged 
with evading the revenue laws. Already the public mind was greatly 
agitated by the Stamp Act and other measures of parliament, and Mr. 
Hancock was one of the leaders of the opposition in the assembly. 
The seizure of his vessel caused a serious riot, and from that time he 
was marked as an agitator, by the royal government. In all the pha- 
ses of political events from that period until the breaking out of the 
revolution, he was a firm adherent to the patriot cause. He was a dele- 
gate for Massachusetts in the first continental Congress, and so deci- 
dedly rebellious did his course appear, that General Gage, in issuing 
a proclamation of " pardon to all rebels," excluded John Hancock and 
Samuel Adams, whose offenses, it was declared, were " of too flagitious 
a nature to admit of any other consideration than that of condign pun- 
ishment." He remained a member of Congress until the 1st of No- 
vember, 1777, and was president of that body from May 24th, 1775, 
until he vacated his seat as delegate. Ill health was the cause of his 
Avitlidrawal, for a time, from public business. He was chosen the first 
governor of Massachusetts under its new constitution, in 1780, and was 
annually elected to that ofiice for five years, when he resigned. He 
was again elected governor in 1787, and remained in office until his 
death on the the 8th of October, 1793, aged 56 years. 

Henry Laurens. — Mr. Laurens, a delegate from South Carolina, 
succeeded John Hancock on the 1st of November, 1777. He took an 
active part in the politics of his native state, and early espoused the 
republican cause. He was president of the provincial Congress of 
South Carolina, in 1775, and while acting in that capacity he drew up 
a form of association, in a decided tone, to be signed by all the friends 
of liberty. A temporai-y constitution was adopted for his state in 1776, 
and under it he was elected vice-president. The next year he was 
elected a delegate to the general Congress, and was its president until 
December, 1778. He was deputed by Congress, in 1780, to solicit a 
loan from Holland, and to negotiate a treaty with the United Nether- 
lands. The vessel in which he sailed was captured on the banks of 
l^ewfoundland. He was sent to England and committed to the Tower, 
on a charge of high treason, where he was confined more than a year, 
and was treated with great severity. His papers discovered matters 
which led to a war between England and Holland. He was released 
at the close of the year 1781. He went to Paris, and there, with 
Franklin and Adams, signed the preliminaries of peace, in November, 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

1782, having been appointed by Congress one of the commissioners. 
He returned to America in 1783, and died at Charleston, South Caro- 
lina, on the 8th of December, 1793, aged 69 years. His son, Henry 
L., inherited from him an estate worth about three hundred thousand 
dollars, on condition that he should burn his body on the third day 
after his death. His daughter married Dr. Ramsay, one of the earli- 
est historians of the revolution. 

John Jay succeeded Mr. Laurens in the presidential chair, on the 
10th of December, 1778. He Wds the son of Peter Jay, a descendant 
of a French Huguenot who emigrated from Rochelle, France, to New 
York, about 1696. He was born December 12, 1745, and was educa- 
ted at King's (now Columbia) college. He married the daughter of 
William Livingston, governor of New Jersey, and early espoused the 
republican cause. Although very young, he was a distinguished law- 
yer ^^hen appointed a delegate from New York to the Congress of 
1774. He was the writer of the eloquent address to the people of 
Great Britain, adopted at that session, and penned many of the finest 
productions of the succeeding Congresses. He was in New York, as- 
sisting in forming the constitution and government of that province, in 
1776, and, consequently, his name was not attached to the declaration 
of independence. He presented a draught of the constitution of the 
state of New York, in March, 1777, which was adopted. From the 
May following until August, 1779, he was chief justice of his state ; 
but his duties as president of Congress obliged him to resign that post. 
In September, 1779, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the 
court of Spain. There he remained until 1782, but was unsuccessful 
in his principal negotiations, on account of reputed bad faith on the 
part of France. He was appointed a commissioner to negotiate a 
peace with Great Britain, in 1782, and he signed the definitive treaty, 
September 3, 1783. He returned to America in 1784, having been 
appointed by Congress secretary of state for foreign affaii'S. This was 
a very important station, and therein his services were exceedingly val- 
uable. He was not a member of the convention that framed the fed- 
eral constitution, but assisted it by suggestions and advice, and aided 
Hamilton and Madison in writing the Federalist. Washington appointed 
him chief justice of the United States, in 1789, and in 1794 he was 
appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of St. James, where 
he effected the treaty that bears his name. He was elected governor 
of New York, in 1795, and re-elected in 1798. He withdrew from 
public life in 1801, and for nearly thirty years lived in pleasant retire- 
ment upon his estate at Bedford, Westchester county. New York, 
where he died May 17, 1829, aged 84 years. 

Samuel Huntington was born in Windham, Connecticut, in 1732. 
He had a strong and active mind, but it had not the advantages of a 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

collegiate education. He studied law, and commenced the practice of 
his profession in Norwich, in 1760. He was a representative in the 
general assembly in 1764, and the following year he was appointed 
king's attorney for the province. In 1774, he was made assistant judge 
of the superior court, and in 1775 was elected to a seat in the council. 
The same year he was elected a delegate to the general Congress, of 
which body he was a member until 1781, and was one of the signers 
of the declaration of independence. He succeeded Mi'. Jay in the 
presidency, September 28, 1779. On retiring from Congress, he again 
took his seat upon the bench and in the council of his state. He was 
again in Congress in 1783, and the next year was appointed chief jus- 
tice of Connecticut. He was elected governor of his state in 1786, 
and held the office until his death, which occurred at Norwich, on the 
5th of January, 1796, at the age of 63 years. 

Thomas M'Kean, of Delaware, succeeded Mr. Huntington as presi- 
dent of Congress, on the 10th of July, 1781. He was the son of Wil- 
liam M'Kean, an Irishman, and was born March 19, 1734. He studied 
law in New Castle, and settled in that county, of which he was a rep- 
resentative in the legislature, in 1762. He was a member of the colo- 
nial, or Stamp Act Congress, in 1765, and having, from that time, 
warmly espoused the cause of the colonists against Great Britain, he 
was elected a delegate to the fii'st general Congress, in 1774. At that 
period he was a resident of Philadelphia. He remained a delegate in 
Congress from Delaware until 1783, and at the same time he was 
chief justice of Pennsylvania. He voted for and signed the declara- 
tion of independence. He was a warm friend of the federal constitu- 
tion, and in the Pennsylvania convention he urged its adoption. In 
1799, he was eiected governor of Pennsylvania, in which office he 
remained until 1808. From that period, he enjoyed the retirement of 
private Ufe until his death, which occurred on the 24th of June, 1817, 
in his 83d year. 

John Hanson. — We have been unable to collect any details of 
the life of Mr. Hanson. He was elected a delegate to Congress from 
Maryland, in the summer of 1781, and remained in that body until the 
establishment of peace, in 1783. He was elected by his colleagues 
president of Congress, on the 5th of November, 1781, and held the 
office just one year. He died in Prince George's county, Maryland, 
November 13, 1783. 

Elias Boudinot. — This distinguished patriot was of Huguenot ex- 
traction. He was a native of New Jersey, and studied law under 
Richard Stockton, one of the delegates in Congress from that state who 
signed the declaration of independence. He became a distinguished 
lawyer, was an active patriot, and in 1777 Congress appointed him 
commissary-general of prisoners. The same year he was elected a 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

delegate to Congress, where he remained until 1783. He succeeded 
John Hanson as president of that body, on the 4th of November, 1782, 
and in that capacity he signed the definitive treaty of peace. After the 
war, he resumed the profession of the law, but was again called to 
serve in Congress, under the new constitution, in 1789, where he rep- 
resented his state for six years. Washington appointed him director 
of the mint of the United States, in 1796, where he continued until 
ISOo, when he left the cares of public life, and retired to Burlington, 
New Jersey. He was then a trustee of Princeton college, and that 
year established its cabinet of natural history, at a cost of S3, 000. He 
assisted in the formation of the American Bible Society, in 1816, and 
was elected its first president. He made a donation to it of ten thou- 
sand dollars, and afterward contributed liberally toward the erection 
of its depository. He was active and liberal in many benevolent op- 
erations, and on the 24th of October, 1821, at the age of 81, he went 
to receive his reward. 

Thomas Mifflin. — General Mifflin was the first of the military 
profession called to preside over Congress. He succeeded Dr. Bou- 
dlnot on the 3d of November, 1783. He was a native of Pennsylva- 
nia, and was born of Quaker parents, in 1744. He was of an active 
and zealous temperament, and at a very early period of the controversy, 
took sides with the republicans. He was a member of the first Con- 
gress, in 1774, and when it adjourned, he took up arms. He was ap- 
pointed quartermaster-general, on the organization of the continental 
army, in 1775. For this offence he was disowned by the society of 
friends. In 1777, he became associated with Gates and others, in en- 
deavors to take from Washington the chief command, and for this act 
his reputation was injured. He was re-elected to Congress in 1783, and 
was president when, at its session at Annapolis, that year, Washington 
resigned his commission, and the definitive treaty of peace was ratified. 
In 1787, he was a member of the convention that framed the federal con- 
stitution, and in 1788 he succeeded Franklin as president of the supreme 
executive council of Pennsylvania. He was chosen governor of the state 
in 1790, and by his eloquence, more than his official power, he gathered 
the militia and controlled the elements of disorder that appeared in the 
" Whiskey Insurrection" in Pennsylvania, in 1794. He was governor 
until 1799, and died January 20, 1800, aged 56 years. 

Richard Henry Lee, one of the earliest and most active friends 
of the cause of freedom, was a native of Virginia. He was born at 
Stratford, Westmoreland county, January 20, 1732. He was educa- 
ted in England, and, as early as 1755, he was a member of the house 
of burgesses. He was then very diffident, and it was many years be- 
fore he could so far overcome the weakness as to attempt to make a 
speech. He originated the first open resistance to British tyranny in 
2 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

the time of the Stamp Act, in 1765, and then his eloquence began to 
beam forth. He also, in connexion with Dabney Carr, proposed the 
organization of committees of correspondence, in 1773. He was a 
member of the first Congress, in 1774; and in 1776 he submitted to 
that body the resolution which declared the United Colonies free and 
independent states. Some of the most powerful documents drawn up 
by committees, were from his pen. He withdrew from Congress in 
1778, but was re-elected in 1784, and on the 30th of November of that 
year he succeeded General Mifflin in the presidential chair. He was 
chosen one of the first senators from Virginia, after the adoption of the 
federal constitution. He resigned the office in 1792, and died at his 
seat in Westmoreland county, Virginia, June 19, 1794, aged 62 years. 

Nathaniel Gorham was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 
1738. He was often a member of the Massachusetts legislature, where 
his sound common sense, rather than brilliancy of talents, made him 
influential. He was an active but not very prominent patriot during 
the trying scenes of the Revolution. In 1784, he was elected a dele- 
gate to Congress, and was chosen president of that body on the 6th of 
June, 1786. He was a judge of the court of common pleas for his 
district, for several years, and a member of the convention that formed 
the federal constitution. He died June 11, 1796, aged 58 yeare. 

Arthur St. Clair was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. He was 
born in 1734, and came to America with Admiral Boscawen, in 1755. 
He served in Canada, under Wolfe, and after the peace of 1763, he 
was appointed to the command of Fort Ligonier, in Pennsylvania. In 
1776, he was appointed a colonel in the continental army, and raised a 
regiment destined for service in Canada. In August, of that year, he 
was appointed a brigadier, and was in the battles of Trenton and 
Princeton. In February, 1777, he was made a major-general, and on 
the 5th of June was ordered by General Schuyler to the command of 
the garrison at Ticonderoga. Owing to a lack of troops, provisions, 
and ammunition, sufficient to well man the works, he was obliged to 
evacuate that post, on the approach of Burgoyne, on the night of the 
5th of July. He was at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered, and 
from there he went south to reinforce General Greene in Georgia. 
After the war, he resided in Pennsylvania, was elected to Congress in 
1786, and was made president of the same on the 2d of February, 1787. 
The Northwestern territory was organized in 1788, and he was ap- 
pointed its governor, which station he lield until 1802, when Ohio was 
admitted into the Union as an independent state. He declined being a 
candidate for governor. During his administration there was much 
trouble with the Indian tribes, and his military operations against them 
were disastrous. He left his office almost ruined in fortune. He made 
claims against Congress for services and disbursements, which were 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

disallowed, and he died almost penniless, at Laurel Hill, near Phila- 
delphia, August 31, 181S, aged 84 years. 

Cyrus Griffin was a native of England, but for several years pre- 
vious to the Revolution he was a resident of Virginia, and member of 
the house of burgesses. He sided with the republicans against the 
government of his fatherland, and throughout the war adhered consist- 
ently and firmly to the patriot cause. He was elected a delegate to 
the general Congress, in 1778, and again served his adopted state in 
that capacity in 1787. He was elected president of that body on the 
22d of January, 1788. After the adoption of the federal constitution, 
and the reorganization of the judiciary, he was appointed a judge of 
the district court of Virginia. At his first court, held at Richmond, 
John Marshall, afterward chief justice of the United States, was admit- 
ted as counsel. He died at Yorktown, Virginia, on the 10th of De- 
cember, 1810, aged 62 years. 

Charles Thomson, who was chosen secretaiy of the first conti- 
nental Congress, in 1774, and who for fifteen consecutive years per- 
formed the arduous and important duties of that station, may very 
properly be noticed among these brief memoirs, for his services, in fact, 
were more really valuable — he was more truly the presiding officer in 
those assemblies — than the president. Perfectly familiar with evei'y 
political movement at home and abroad, which related to his country, 
and in constant correspondence, both secret and open, with the leading 
men of the day, he was consulted on all occasions, and his opinions 
had weighty influence. Mr. Thomson was born in Ireland, and came 
to this country with his three elder brothers, in 1741. He landed at 
New Castle ; his industry was all that he could depend upon for 
support. He was educated by Dr. Allison, the tutor of several of the 
signers of the declaration of independence, and afterward he was the 
teacher at the Friend's academy, at New Castle. He went to Phila- 
delphia, and was fortunate enough to obtain the friendship and advice 
of Dr. Franklin, who was his firm friend through life. When the first 
Congress met, in 1774, he was called upon to keep minutes of their 
proceedings, and from that time until he resigned his office, in July, 
1789, he was the sole secretary. His mind was always strongly im- 
bued with religious principles, his morals were strictly pure, and so 
upright was he in all his ways, that the Indians gave him a name which 
signified "the man of truth." He married Hannah Hai'rison, the aunt 
of the late president of the United States. After the Revolution, he 
devoted much time to the study of the Bible; and he translated the 
Septuagint, from the original Greek, which was published in four vol- 
umes in 1808. He died at Lower Merion, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania, August 16, 1824, aged 94 years. 

Judge Griffin was the last of the presidents under the old confeder- 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

ation, and was succeeded by Washington, on the 30th of April, 1789, 
when the new system of government, under the federal constitution, 
commenced its prosperous career. The history of that career from the 
period when the population of the states did not exceed four millions, 
until the present, when twenty millions are reckoned, is well developed 
in the memoirs which compose this volume, and requires no notice at 
our hands. The picture is one of great beauty and magnificence ; and 
if the old Roman had cause to boast of his citizenship, surely an Amer- 
ican, with all the glory and beneficence of free institutions around him, 
has cause to be proud of his citizenship, and to be grateful to his Crea- 
tor for giving him such a goodly heritage. 

No department of literature, in a moral point of view, is more pleas- 
ing, instructive, and useful, than biography ; for while it portrays the 
history of the times of the subject, if he be an active man in jjublic 
life, it develops the secret springs of history, which the study of indi- 
vidual acts can alone reveal. Nowhere, in the whole range of this 
department, can a more interesting and insti-uctive series of biographies 
be found, than is presented in those of the presidents of the United 
States, exhibiting as they do the planting, the incipient germination 
and the wide-spread fruition of a great republic, based upon the broad- 
est foundations of a peaceful policy, and secured by the overshadowing 
influence of universal intelligence among the people. It is a wonder- 
ful history ; and the life of each president is a brilliant commentary 
upon the influence of early moral culture in laying the basis of char- 
acter to secure future greatness ; and the equality which opens the 
door to the attainment of the highest honors, to every citizen. 

In former times, when the people chose their rulers, a successful 
warrior generally received their suff'rages ; and it too often hapj^ened 
that he used his skill and popularity in establishing for himself a des- 
potic throne upon the wreck of the very instrument that raised him to 
power — the free exercise of the will of the people. Happily for us, 
the glitter of military glory has nut often blinded us, and only three of 
our twelve presidents have been soldiers by profession and from choice. 
Washington, our first and well-beloved, was a soldier only when com- 
mon danger threatened the land, and freedom called for aid in the 
unequal struggle. When that danger was passed he delivered his 
commission to the power that gave it, and laid aside his sword to hold 
the implement of more beneficent subjugation — the plough. And the 
glory which each military president derives from his success in battle, 
is like the ephemeral brilliancy of the dewdrop that fades in an hour, 
compared to that more enduiing brightness which his position as the 
head of a great republic causes him to receive from the confidence of 
a free people, and to reflect upon the pa^es of the history of his race. 
And yet, estimating right by the standard of equitable human policy, 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

antl endowing government, by imputation, with sentiments of self-love 
and self-preservation, they never drew their blades in a wron^ cause, 
nor sullied the fair fame of themselves or their country by their un- 
righteous use. They were never lifted in support of despotism or 
oppression, or cruelly stained with the blood of the friends of freedom. 
It is also a pleasant reflection, that a combination of legislative talent 
and rare personal virtues in each, chiefly aided him in attaining the lofty 
position of the presidential chair, for without these, his military deeds, 
however brilliant, might have challenged the admiration of his coun- 
trymen, but could never have secured their consent to intrust him 
with the guidance of the helm of state. A bad man can never fill the 
seat of Washington while virtue and intelligence remain with the 
people. 

Although our political system, like every other production of human 
M^isdom, is, in a measure, defective, yet in its practical operation in 
attaining the great object for which governments are instituted — the 
happiness and prosperity of the people — it is eminently good. So 
radical was the change wrought by the Revolution, that many of the 
leading men of that period were distrustful of the capacities of the peo- 
ple for self-government, without some powerful check in the hands of 
ministers by which the freedom of will and action might be controlled. 
This distrust, and a jealous regard for state-rights, caused opposition 
to the federal constitution, and it was two years and a half from the adop- 
tion of that instrument before every state had ratified it. The pohtical 
postulate of Paine, that " the best system of jurisprudence is a strong 
people and a weak government," was considered dangerous in prac- 
tice, and perilous, if adopted, to the very existence of the new repub- 
lic. On the other hand, men of equal sagacity, who had labored with 
the others, shoulder to shoulder, during the Revolution, were disposed 
to give the people the "largest liberty." Political parties, distinguished 
as Federalists and Republicans, were thus formed at the starting point 
of our permanent national career, and for twenty years each labored 
hard to convince the world that the other would assuredly pull down 
the pillars of the state, and crush the hopes of freedom beneath them. 
But the republic stood firm. Population increased. New industrial 
resources, whence public wealth and private happiness were drawn, 
were hourly developing. The waves of population, of commerce, and 
of agriculture, beat against the Alleganies, rose above them, and finally 
poured their flood into the great valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi. 
The " wilderness blossomed as the rose." New states were added to 
the original thirteen ; and thirty years' experience taught cautious 
doubters that the people were fully capable of self-government. In- 
creasing prosperity at home, and respect abroad, have since marked 
our progress ; and now our inhabited territories extend from ocean to 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

ocean ; our thirteen states have grown to thirty ; our four millions of 
people have increased to twenty millions ; our sails of commerce are 
upon every sea; and our political doctrines, enforced only by happy 
illustrations in our own history, are at this moment revolutionizing the 
hoary political systems of the old world. Our declaration that " all men 
are born free and equal," repudiated the " divine right of kings," the 
immunities of aristocracies, and the privileges of castes. These three 
classes of burdens weigh heavily upon social advancement, and obstruct 
the upward progress of nations. We cast them off, and outstripped 
Europe in the race for eminence. Her people are now struggling 
with mighty energy to shake off these incubi ; and as every effort casts 
up to the light of righteous scrutiny the foul practices and intentions 
of despotism, the beauty of our own system becomes more apparent 
by contrast, and our duty to be grateful appears a glorious privilege. 

The spectacle which is quadrennially presented hei'e of a change of 
rulers, both in the method and in the practical result, is a notable exhi- 
bition of the capacity of our people for self-government, and their un- 
doubting reliance upon the strength and justice of our political system. 
Party spirit, which, when controlled by intelligence, prudence, and 
judgment, is a powerful element of purity in a free state, pervades our 
whole people when a new election for chief magistrate approaches. 
Two eminent men of the nation are selected as candidates for the 
office. The character of each, public and private, is immediately 
placed beneath the scrutiny of the microscope of party zeal, and his 
faults and virtues, his weakness and his strength, are measured by an 
exalted standard, and published to the world. A foreigner, uninstructed 
in our ways, landing in our midst at the lime of our election canvass, 
would believe that the elements of destruction were rife ; that our 
government was on the verge of dissolution ; and that Anarchy was 
about to snatch the sceptre from Order and Justice. The day of choice 
passes by; the great voice of the nation has spoken; the tumult of 
party warfai'e ceases; the placards of praise and censure of candidates 
disappear ; the threatening aspect of party spirit is changed to serenity ; 
and a cheerful acquiescence of the minority in the expressed will of 
the majority silences every murmur of complaint. Partisans, bitter 
and uncompromising in the contest, meet upon the common ground of 
friendly intercourse, and walk arm in arm as happy bj others amid the 
profuse blessings of fi-ee institutions. Faith, strong and abiding, in the 
pi'omises of the constitution, and the virtue and intelligence of the peo- 
ple, assure all that he who is elevated to the post of honor, governed 
by the wise checks and balances of organic law, and a desire to 
appear worthy to fill the seat of the wise and good who have ruled 
before him, will employ every power he possesses in efforts to sustain 
the true glory of the republic. That faith has never yet been betrayed. 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

The nine presidents wlio sleep in the grave have an enduring monu- 
ment in the love and esteem of the whole nation, and those who remain 
with us are honored and beloved. 

The economy of our government, the light burdens which are imposed 
upon the people for its support, and the general freedom of labor, are 
important features in our system, and present a strong contrast to the 
expensive operations of royalty and the cruel exactions of aristocracy. 
Here, the emoluments of office are small, and unrighteous sinecures 
are unknown. No national church establishment, with its host of non- 
producers, exacts tithes ; no ponderous standing army, with its legions 
of drones, draws the life-blood from the veins of industry; nor does 
the pomp, and pageantry, and costly trappings of royalty, and the 
erection, decoration, and support of gorgeous palaces, deprive enter- 
prise and labor of their just reward. The toiler is fairly paid for the 
sweat of his brow; and no man, unless it be the black bond-slave, is 
so much the servant of another that his manhood is obliterated and he 
is made to feel like a dependent serf of the soil, compelled to utter in 
secret, if he dare utter it at all, the complaining question of the old 
man upon the banks of Ayr : — 

" If I'm yon haug^lity lordling's slave, 

By Natnve's law designed, 
Why was an independent wish 

E'er planted in my mind? 
If not, why am I subject to 

His cruelty and scorn ? 
Or why has man the will and power 

To make his fellow mourn ?" 

Here, the road to honor, wealth, and distinction, is free and unob- 
structed, and every youth of our republic may have the opportunity to 
travel that highway and win them. The spirit of our institutions is ut- 
terly unmindful of the assumptions of caste, whether based upon ancestry 
or wealth ; and the poorest young man in our land has an equal right 
to the enjoyment of the highest distinctions, with the proudest child of 
rank and riches. Indeed, the history of our republic abounds with 
striking examples of exaltation to honor of men who began their career 
in the humblest walks of life ; and some of the wisest living statesmen 
whose minds control public opinion, shape the course of party tactics, 
and direct the grave affairs of the nation, were children of poverty and 
obscurity. These various considerations combined — the noble charac- 
ter of our past rulers — the wisdom and beneficence of our political 
system — the just confidence of the people in the practical wisdom 
of our organic laws — the fair rewards of labor — the light burdens 
imposed for the support of government — and the equality which opens 
wide the pathway of honor to each — should form an irresistible in- 
ducement for every youth to aspire to the exalted station of a good 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

citizen, and a cause for emotions of profound gratitude to the great 
Disposer of events for a birthright so vakiable. 

Young men, read these memoirs attentively, and ponder seriously 
upon the exhibition of human character and national greatness which 
they develop. Reflect upon your exalted position as a component of 
the sovereignty of a great republic, and the responsibilities which con- 
sequently rest upon you. As your fathers pass away, you must step 
in and fill their places. Learn to perform their duties well ; and learn, 
too, to feel that the exercise of their duties is an exalted privilege, 
for while it ministers to your personal gratification it gives you a pow- 
erful influence over the destinies of our race. The people of the old 
world, for the present moment shrouded in gloom and bound in fetters, 
are lifting up their eyes to you for light and freedom. With you is 
intrusted the vestal fire of liberty. Let it never grow dim in your 
keeping, but feed its living flame with generous self-sacrifices, that the 
struggling nations may never be without a sure beacon to guide them 
in their pathway of blood to the temple of emancipation. Young men, 
a glorious field of usefulness is before you. A white harvest calls for 
zealous reapers. Human progress, with all its varied labors and felici- 
ties, beckons you on. Be not unfaithful — be not idle — but work, 
work, work. 

" Young men of every creed ! up and be doing now ; 
The time is come to " ran and read," with thoughtful eye and brow. 
Extend your grasp to catcli things unattained before ; 
Touch the quick springs of Reason's latch, and enter at her door. 
The seeds of mind are sown in every human breast ; 
But doiTnant lie, unless we own the sjTtrit's high behest 
Look outwardly, and learn ; look inwardly and think ; 
And Truth and Love shall brighter burn o'er Error's wasting brink. 
Give energy to thought, by musing as ye move ; 
Nor dream unworthy aught, or trifling for your love. 
Plunge in the crowded mart, there read the thoughts of men; 
And Human Nature's wondrous chart shall open to your ken ! 
Shun drunkenness — 'tis sin ! the deadliest fatal ban 
"Which ever veiled the light within, and palled the som of man ! 
In fi-eedom walk sublime, as God designed ye should ; 
Pillared props of growing time, supporting solid good. 
Tread the far fore.st; climb the sloping hill way -side, 
And feel your spirits ring their chime of gladness far and wide. 
Where'er your footsteps tend, where'er your feelings flow, 
Be man and brother to the end — compassionate the low ! 
Curb Anger, Pride, and Hate ; Let Love the watchword be ; 
Then will your hearts be truly great, God-purified, and free !" 







JtndHyTBaliliftcmaTiiiningljr G.Sniait . 




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OP 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



The family of Washington, in Virginia, is descended from English an- 
cestors, who were anciently established at Turtfield and Warton, in Lan- 
cashire, from a branch of whom came Sir "William Washington, of Leices- 
tershire, eldest son and heir of Lawrence Washington, Esq., of Sulgrave 
in Northamptonshire, Sir William had, besides other yoimger brothers, 
two, named John and Lawrence, who emigrated to Virginia in 1657, and 
settled at Bridge's creek, on the Potomac river, in the county of West- 
moreland. John, the father of Lawrence Washington, died in 1697, leav- 
ing two sons, John and Augustine. Augustine died in 1743, at the age 
of forty-nine, leaving several sons by his two marriages. George, the 
president, was the eldest by his second wife, Mary Ball, and was born at 
Bridge's creek, on the 22d (or 11th, old style) of February, 1732. 

Each of the sons of Augustine Washington inherited from him a sep- 
arate plantation. To the eldest, Lawrence, he bequeathed the estate on 
the Potomac river, afterward called Mount Vernon, which then consisted 
of twenty-five hundred acres, and also other lands and property. The 
second son, Augustine, received an estate in Westmoreland. To George 
were left the lands and mansion where his father lived at the time of his 
disease, situated in Stafford county, on the east side of the Rappahannock 
river, opposite Fredericksburg ; and to each of the other four sons an es- 
tate of six or seven hundred acres. The youngest daughter died in in- 
fancy, and for the only remaining one a suitable provision was made in 
the will. Thus, it will be seen, that Augustine Washington left all his 
children in a state of comparative independence. His occupation had 
been that of a planter, and the large estates he was enabled to leave his 
family had been acquired chiefly by his own industry and enterprise. 

Left a widow, with the charge of five young children, the eldest of 
whom was eleven years of age, Mrs. Washington, the mother of George, 
exhibited her resources of mind in the superintendence of their education 
and the management of the complicated aflairs of her deceased husband, 



26 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 



who by his will had directed that the proceeds of all the property of her 
children should be at her disposal until they should respectively come of 
age. This excellent woman had the happiness to see all her children 
come forward with a fair promise into life, filling the sphere allotted to 
them with equal honor to themselves and to the parent who had been the 
only guide of their principles, conduct, and habits. She lived to witness 
the noble career of her eldest son, till he was raised to the head of a na- 
tion, and applauded and revered by the world. Her death took place at 
the age of eighty-two, at her residence in Fredericsburg, Virginia, Au- 
gust 25, 1789. 

Under the colonial governments, particularly in those of the south, the 
means of education were limited. Those young men who were destined 
for the learned professions were occasionally sent to England, when 
their parents were sufficiently wealthy to bear the expenses ; while the 
planters generally were satisfied with such a home education for their sons 
as would fit them for the duties of practical life, by means of a private tu- 
tor, or a teacher of the common schools then in existence. The simplest 
elements of knowledge only, such as reading, writing, arithmetic, and 
keeping accounts, were taught at schools of this description, to one of 
which George Washington was sent, and to such slender advantages was 
he indebted for all the aids his mind received in his juvenile years. 

While at school he was noted for an inquisitive, docile, and diligent dis- 
position, but displaying military propensities and passion for active sports. 
He formed his playmates into companies, who paraded, marched, and 
fought mimic battles, in which he was always the commander of one of 
the parties. He had also a fondness for running, jumping, wrestling, and 
other active sports and feats of agility. 

His early proficiency in some branches of study is shown by his man- 
uscript schoolbooks, which, from the time he was thirteen years old, have 
been preserved. These books begin with geometry, and he had already 
become familiar with arithmetic in the most difficult parts. Many pages 
of the manuscript in question are filled with what he calls Forms of wri- 
ting, such as notes of hand, bills of exchange, bonds, land-warrants, leas- 
es, deeds, and wills, written out with care, and in a clerk's hand. Then 
follow selections in poetry of a moral and religious cast, and Rules of 
Behavior in Company and Conversation, which code of rules it is believed 
had an influence upon his whole life. Of an ardent temperament and 
strong passions, it was his constant effort and ultimate triumph, through 
the varied scenes of his eventful life, to check the one and subdue the 
other. His intercourse with men, private and public, in every walk and 
station, was marked with a consistency, a fitness to occasions, a dignity, 
decorum, condescension, and mildness, which were at once the dictates 
of his own good sense and judgment, and the fruits of unwearied disci- 
pline. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 27 

The last two years which he passed at school were devoted to the 
study of geometry, trigonometry, and surveying, for which he had a deci- 
ded partiality. He thus qualified himself for his subsequent profession as 
a surveyor, in the practice of which he had an opportunity of acquiring 
information respecting vacant lands, and of forming those opinions con- 
cerning their future value which afterward greatly contributed to increase 
his private fortune. Except the above branches of the mathematics, his 
acquirements did not extend beyond the subjects usually taught to .boys 
of his age at the common schools. It is even doubtful whether he re- 
ceived any instructions in the principles of language. By practice, read- 
ing, and study in after-life, he gradually overcame his early defects in 
composition till at length he wrote with accuracy, purity of idiom, and a 
striking appropriateness of phraseology and clearness of style. No aid 
was derived from any other than his native tongue. He never even com- 
menced the study of the ancient classics. While in the army, after the 
French officers had joined the Americans, he bestowed some attention ou 
the French language, but at no time could he write or converse in it, or 
indeed translate any paper.* 

In the year 1746, while he was yet at school, a midshipman's warrant 
was obtained for him in the British army, by his eldest brother, Lawrence, 
who had been an officer in the British service, and served at the siege of 
Carthagena and in the West Indies. George, who was then fourteen 
years of age, was desirous thus early of embracing the opportunity pre- 
sented for a naval life, but the interference of an affectionate mother de- 
ferred the commencement and changed the course of his military career. 

Soon after leaving school, in his sixteenth year, he went to reside with 
his brother Lawrence, at his seat on the Potomac river, which had been 
called Mount Vernon, in compliment to the admiral of that name. The 
winter passed in the study of mathematics and in the exercise of practi- 
cal surveying. At this time he was introduced to Lord Fairfax, and oth- 
er members of the Fairfax family, established in that part of Virginia. 
With this family, his brother Lawrence was connected by marriage, and 
to his intimate acquaintance with them was George Washington mainly 
indebted for the opportunities of performing those acts which laid the 
foundation of his subsequent successes and advancement. 

Lord Fairfax was possessed of large tracts of wild lands in the val- 
leys of the Allegany mountains, which had not been surveyed ; and so fa- 
vorable an opinion had he formed of the abilities and attainments of young 
Washington, that he intrusted to him the responsible service of surveying 
and laying out the lands in question. He set off on this surveying expe- 
dition soon after he had attained his sixteenth year, accompanied by 
George Fairfax, a young man who was a relative of Lord Fairfax. The 
enterprise was arduous, and attended with privations and fatigues, but the 

* Sparks's Life of Washington. 



28 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

task was executed in such a manner as to give satisfaction to his employ- 
er, and establish his reputation as a surveyor. Having received a com- 
mission or appointment as a public surveyor, he devoted three years to 
this pursuit, which at that time was lucrative and important. 

At the age of nineteen he was appointed one of the adjutant-generals 
of Virginia, with the rank of major. His military propensities had in- 
creased with his years, and he prepared himself by the study of books 
on the military art and by the manual exercise for the life of a soldier. 
But he had scarcely engaged in this service, when he was called upon 
to accompany his brother Lawrence on a voyage to the West Indies for 
his health. They sailed for Barbadoes in September, 1751, and soon af- 
ter landing on that island, George was seized with the smallpox. The 
disease was severe, but with good medical attendance he was able to go 
abroad in three weeks. Leaving his brother Lawrence to embark for 
Bermuda, he returned to Virginia in February, having been absent over 
four months. His brother soon followed him, without recovering his 
health, and died the following summer. Large estates were left by the 
deceased brother to the care and management of George, who was ap- 
pointed one of the executors, with a contingent interest in the estate of 
Mount Vernon and other lands. But his private employments did not pre- 
vent his attention to his public duties as adjutant-general, the sphere of 
which office was enlarged by new arrangements. 

The plan formed by France for connecting her extensive dominions in 
America, by uniting Canada with Louisiana, now began to develop itself. 
Possession was taken by the French of a tract of country then deemed to 
be within the province of Virginia, and a line of posts was commenced 
from Canada to the Ohio river. The attention of Lieutenant-Governor 
Dinwiddle, of Virginia, was attracted by these movements, and he deemed 
it his duty to send a messenger to the French officers and demand, in the 
name of the king of Great Britain, that they should desist from the prose- 
cution of designs which violated, as he thought, the treaties between the 
two crowns. Washington, at his own desire, was selected for this haz- 
ardous enterprise, and he engaged in it with alacrity, commencing his 
journey the day on which he was commissioned, in October, 1753. His 
course was through a dreary wilderness, inhabited for the most part only 
by Indians, many of whom were hostile to the English. Conducted by 
guides over the Allegany mountains, he suffered many hardships, and 
experienced many narrow escapes, but succeeded in reaching the French 
forts on the Allegany branches of the Ohio. After delivering the lieuten- 
ant-governor's letter to St. Pierre, the French commanding officer, and 
receiving an answer, he returned, with infinite fatigue and much danger, 
from the hostile Indians, to Williamsburg. The manner in which he per- 
formed his duty on this occasion raised him much in public opinion, as 
well as in that of the lieutenant-governor. His journal, which extended 



/ 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 29 

to sixty days, was published by authority, and laid the foundation of Wash- 
ington's fame, as it gave strong evidence of his sagacity, fortitude, and 
sound judgment. 

As the French commandant on the Ohio showed no disposition, in his 
answer sent by Washington, to withdraw his forces from that country, the 
assembly of Virginia determined to authorize the governor and council to 
raise a regiment of three huudred men, to be sent to the frontier, for the 
purpose of maintaining the rights of Great Britain to the territory invaded 
by the French. The command of this regiment was given to Colonel 
Fry. Major Washington was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and obtained 
permission to march with two companies in advance of the other troops to 
the Great Meadows. In a dark rainy night. May 28, 1754, Colonel Wash- 
ington surrounded and surprised a detachment of the French troops, a few 
miles west of the Great Meadows. The Americans fired about daybreak 
upon the French, who immediately surrendered. One man only escaped, 
and the commanding officer of the party, M. de Jumonville, and ten of his 
men were killed. Being soon after joined by the residue of the regiment, 
also by two companies of regulars, and Colonel Fry having died, the com- 
mand devolved on Colonel Washington. This body of men, numbering 
less than four hundred, were, in the following month of July, attacked by 
about fifteen hundred French and Indians, at Fort Necessity, situated at 
the Great Meadows, and after a contest which lasted a whole day, the 
French offered terms of capitulation, and articles were signed," by which 
the fort was surrendered, and the garrison allowed the honors of war, and 
permitted to return unmolested into the inhabited parts of Virginia. Great 
credit was given to Colonel Washington by his countrymen, for the cour- 
age displayed on this occasion, and the legislature were so satisfied with 
the conduct of the party as to A'^ote their thanks to him and the officers un- 
der his command. They also ordered three hundred pistoles to be dis- 
tributed among the soldiers, as a reward for their bravery. 

Soon after this campaign, Washington retired from the militia service, 
in consequence of an order from the war department in England, which 
put those of the same military rank in the royal army over the heads of 
those in the provincial forces. This order created great dissatisfaction in 
the colonies, and Washington, while refusing to submit to the degradation 
required, declared that he would serve with pleasure when he should be 
enabled to do so without dishonor. 

The unfortunate expedition of General Braddock followed in 1755. 
The general, being informed of the merit of Washington, invited him to 
enter into his family as a volunteer and aid-de-camp. This invitation 
Colonel Washington accepted, as he was desirous to make one campaign 
under an officer supposed to possess some knowledge in the art of war. 
The disastrous result of Braddock's expedition is well known. In the 
battle of the Monongahela, in which General Braddock was killed. Wash- 



30 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

ington had two horses shot under him, and four balls passed through his 
coat, as his duty and situation exposed him to every danger. Such was 
the general confidence in his talents, that he may be said to have con- 
ducted the retreat. 

Soon after his return to his home at Mount Vernon, Colonel Washing- 
ton was appointed by the legislature of the colony, commander-in-chief 
of all the forces raised and to be raised in Virginia, which appointment 
he accepted, and for about three years devoted his time to recruiting and 
organizing troops for the defence of the colony. In the course of his du- 
ties in this service, he had occasion to visit Boston on business with Gen- 
eral Shirley, who was then the British commander-in-chief in x\merica. 
This journey of five hundred miles, Washington, accompanied by his aid 
and another officer, performed on horseback in the winter of 1756. He 
stopped several days in the principal cities on the route, where his milita- 
ry character and services in the late campaign procured for him much no- 
tice. 

While in New York he was entertained at the house of Mr. Beverly 
Robinson, between whom and himself an intimacy subsisted till it was 
broken off by their opposite fortune twenty years afterward in the revo- 
lution. The sister of Mrs. Robinson, Miss Mary Phillips, was an inmate 
of the family, and being a young lady of rare accomplishments, her charms 
made a deep impression upon the heart of the Virginia colonel. He im- 
parted his secret to a confidential friend whose letters kept him informed 
of every important event. He soon learned that a rival was in the field, 
and was advised to renew his visits ; but he never saw the lady again, 
till she was married to that same rival. Captain Morris, his former associ- 
ate in arms, and one of Braddock's aids-de-camp.* 

In 1758, Colonel Washington commanded an expedition to Fort Du 
Quesne, which terminated successfully, and the French retired from the 
western frontier. By gaining possession of the Ohio the great object of 
the war in the middle colonies was accomplished, and having abandoned 
the idea he had entertained of making an attempt to be united to the Brit- 
ish establishment, he resigned his commission in the colonial service, in 
December, 1758, after having been actively engaged in the service of his 
country more than five years. 

Having paid his addresses successfully the preceding year to Mrs. 
Martha Custis, Colonel Washington was married to that lady on the sixth 
of January, 1759. She was three months younger than himself, and was 
the widow of John Parke Custis, and daughter of John Dandridge. Dis- 
tinguished alike for her beauty, accomplishments, and wealth, she was pos- 
sessed also of those qualities which adorn the female character, and con- 
tribute to render domestic life attractive and happy. Mr. Custis, her first 
husband, had left large landed estates, and forty-five thousand pounds 
* Sparks's Life of Washington. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 31 

Sterling in money. One third of this property his widow held in her own 
right, the other two thirds being equally divided between her, a son, and 
daughter, the former six years old, the latter four, at the time of her sec- 
ond marriage. 

An accession of more than one hundred thousand dollars was made to 
Colonel Washington's fortune by his marriage, in addition to what he 
already possessed in the estate of Mount Vernon, and other lands which 
he had selected during his surveying expeditions, and obtained at different 
times. His extensive private affairs now required his constant attention. 
He was also guardian to the two children of Mrs. Washington, and this trust 
he discharged with all the care of a father, till the son became of age, and 
the daughter died in her nineteenth year. This union was in every respect 
felicitious, and continued forty years ; the lady surviving her distinguished 
husband, only about eighteen months. To her intimate acquaintances, 
and to the nation, the character of Mrs. Washington was ever a theme of 
praise. Affable, courteous, and charitable, exemplary in her deportment ; 
unostentatious and without vanity, she was much esteemed in private life, 
and filled with dignity every station in which she was placed.* 

To the delightful retreat of Mount Vernon, the late commander of the 
Virginia forces, released from the cares of a military life, and in posses- 
sion of everything tha.t could make life agreeable, withdrew, three months 
after his marriage and gave himself up to domestic pursuits. These were 
conducted with so much judgment, steadiness, and industry, as greatly to 
enlarge and improve his estate. He had a great fondness for agricultural 
pursuits, and in all the scenes of his public career, there was no subject 
upon which his mind dwelt with so lively an interest as on that of agri- 
culture. The staple product of Virginia, particularly in the lower coun- 
ties, was tobacco, to the culture of which Washington chiefly directed 
his care. This he exported to England for a market, importing thence, 
as was then the practice of the Virginia planters, implements of agricul- 
ture, wearing apparel, and most other articles of common family use. 
For the study of English litefature he had a decided taste, and his name 
is frequently to be found as subscriber to such works as were published 
in the colonies. 

The enjoyments of private life at Mount Vernon, and the exercise of 
a generous hospitality at that mansion, continued uninterrupted for a pe- 
riod of about fifteen years ; with the exception of his absence from home 
during the session of the Virginia legislature, to the house of burgesses 
of which colony Washington was first elected a representative from the 
county of Frederic, during his last military campaign, without his personal 
solicitation or influence. He took his seat in that body at Williamsburg 
in 1759, and from that lime till the beginning of the revolution, a period 
of fifteen years, he was constantly a member of the house of burgesses, 

* Sparks. 



32 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTOX. 

being returned by a majority of votes at every election. For seven years 
he represented jointly with another delegate the county of Frederic, and 
afterward the county of Fairfax, in which he resided. There were com- 
monly two sessions in a year, and sometimes three. He gave his attend- 
ance punctually and from the beginning to the end of almost every session. 

His influence in public bodies was produced more by the soundness of 
his judgment, his quick perceptions, and his directness and sincerity, 
than by eloquence or art. He seldom spoke, never harangued, and it is 
not known that he ever made a set speech, or entered into a stormy debate. 
But his attention was at all times awake, and he was ever ready to act 
with decision and firmness. His practice may be inferred by the follow- 
ing counsel. In a letter to a nephew, who had been chosen and taken 
his seat as a member of the assembly, he says : " The only advice I will 
offer, if you have a mind to command the attention of the house, is to 
speak seldom, but on important subjects, except such as properly relate to 
your constituents, and in the former case make yourself perfectly master 
of the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and submit your senti- 
ments with diffidence. A dictatorial style, though it may carry convic- 
tion, is always accompanied with disgust." 

In the Virginia legislature, Washington acquitted himself with reputa- 
tion, and gained no inconsiderable knowledge of the science of civil gov- 
ernment. During this period the clashing claims of Great Britain and 
her colonies were frequently brought before the colonial assembly. In 
every instance he took a decided part in the opposition made to the prin- 
ciple of taxation claimed by the mother-country, and went heart and hand 
with Henry, Randolph, Lee, Wythe, and the other prominent leaders of 
the time. His disapprobation of the stamp-act was expressed in unquali- 
fied terms. He spoke of it in a letter written at the lime, as an "uncon- 
stitutional method of taxation," and " a direful attack on the liberties of 
the colonists." And subsequently he said : " The repeal of the stamp- 
act, to whatever cause owing, ought much to be rejoiced at. All, there- 
fore, who were instrumental in procuring the repeal, are entitled to the 
thanks of every British subject, and have mine cordially." He was pres- 
ent in the Virginia legislature, when Patrick Henry offered his celebrated 
resolutions on this subject, and from his well-known sentiments expressed 
on other occasions, it is presumed that Washington concurred with the patri- 
otic party which supported these early movements in favor of colonial 
rights and liberties. 

In the subsequent acts of the people of the colonies in resisting the 
claims and aggressions of the British government, Washington cordially 
sympathized, and approved of the most decisive measures proposed in op- 
position, particularly of the agreements not to import goods from Great 
Britain. " The northern colonies," he remarks in a letter to George Ma- 
son, " it appears, are endeavoring to adopt this scheme. In my opinion, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 33 

it is a good one, and must be attended with salutary effects, provided it 
can be carried pretty generally into execution." In these sentiments Mr. 
Mason concurred, and with a view to bring about a concert of action be- 
tween Virginia and the northern colonies, he drew up a series of articles 
in the form of an association. The house of burgesses met in May, 
1769, and as Mr. Mason was not a member, Washington took charge of 
the non-importation agreement paper, which, on being presented by him, 
after the dissolution of the assembly, was unanimously adopted by the 
members who assembled in a body at a private house. Every member 
subscribed his name to it, and it was then printed and distributed in the 
country for the signatures of the people. Washington was scrupulous in 
observing this agreement, enjoining his correspondents in London to send 
him none of the articles enumerated in the agreement of association, un- 
less the offensive acts of parliament should be repealed. 

In the autumn of 1770, Washington, accompanied by a friend, visited 
the western lands of Virginia on the Ohio river, for the purpose of select- 
ing tracts awarded to the officers and soldiers for their services in the 
French war. Proceeding to Pittsburg on horseback, he there embarked 
in a canoe, and descended the Ohio river to the Great Kenhawa, a dis- 
tance of 265 miles. After examining the lands on the latter river and 
making selections, he returned up the Ohio, and thence to Mount Vernon. 

The Virginia assembly, which had been prorogued by the governor, 
Lord Dunmore, from time to time, until March, 1773, is distinguished as 
having brought forward the resolves instituting a committee of correspond- 
ence, and recommending the same to the legislatures of the other colo- 
nies ; Washington was present and gave his support to those resolves. 
At the next session, which took place in May, 1774, the assembly adopted 
still more decisive measures. The news having reached Williamsburg 
at the commencement of the session, of the passage of the act of the 
British parliament for shutting up the port of Boston, the sympathy and 
patriotic feelings of the burgesses were strongly excited, and they forth- 
with passed an order deprecating this procedure, and setting apart the first 
of June to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer to implore the Di- 
vine interposition in behalf of the colonies. The governor thereupon 
dissolved the house the next morning. 

The delegates, eighty-nine in number, immediately repaired to the Ra- 
leigh tavern, organized themselves into a committee, and drew up and 
signed an association, among other matters, advising the committee of 
correspondence to communicate with the committees of the other colonies, 
on the expediency of appointing deputies to meet in a general correspond- 
ence. Although the idea of a congress had been suggested by Doctor 
Franklin the year before, and proposed by town meetings at Providence 
(Rhode Island), Boston, and New York, yet this was the first public as- 
sembly by which it was formally recommended. 
3 



34 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 



Twenty-five of the Virginia delegates, who had remained in Williams- 
burg, among whom was Washington, met on the twenty-ninth of May, 
and issued a circular letter to the people of Virginia, recommending a 
meeting of deputies from the several counties at Williamsburg, on the first 
of August, for the purpose of a more full and deliberate discussion. 
Meetings were accordingly held in the several counties, resolutions were 
adopted, and delegates appointed to the proposed convention. In Fairfax 
county, Washington presided as chairman, and was one of a committee to 
prepare a series of resolves, expressive of the sense of the people. These 
resolves are twenty-four in number, and were drawn by George Mason ; 
they constitute an able and luminous exposition of the points at issue be- 
tween Great Britain and the colonies. They are of special interest as 
containing the opinions of Washington at a critical time, when he was 
soon to be raised by his countrymen to a station of the highest trust and 
responsibility.* 

In a letter to his friend Bryan Fairfax, dated Jidy 20, 1774, Washing- 
ton writes as follows : — 

" Satisfied, then, that the acts of the British parliament are no longer 
governed by the principles of justice, that they are trampling upon the 
valuable rights of Americans, confirmed to them by charter and by the con- 
stitution they themselves boast of, and convinced beyond the smallest 
doubt, that these measures are the result of deliberation, and attempted to 
be carried into execution by the hand of power, is it a time to trifle, or 
risk our cause upon petitions, which with difficulty obtain access, and af- 
terward are thrown by with the utmost contempt ? Or should we, because 
heretofore unsuspicious of design, and then unwilling to enter into dis- 
putes with the mother-country, go on to bear more, and forbear to enume- 
rate our just causes of complaint ? For my own part, I shall not under- 
take to say where the line between Great Britain and the colonies should 
be drawn ; but I am clearly of opinion that one ought to be drawn, and 
our rights clearly ascertained. I could wish, I own, that the dispute 
had been left to posterity to determine, but the crisis is arrived when we 
must assert our rights, or submit to every imposition that can be heaped 
upon us, till custom and use shall make us tame and abject slaves." 

One of the principal acts of the Virginia convention, which met at 
Williamsburg on the first of August, 1774, of which body Washington 
was a member, was to adopt a new association, whose objects were re- 
sistance to parliamentary aggressions, by non-intercourse with Great 
Britain. The convention appointed Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry 
Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, and Edmund 
Pendleton, delegates to the first continental Congress, which met at Phil- 
adelphia, on the fifth of September. Two of Washington's associates, 
Mr. Henry and Mr. Pendleton stopped on their way at Mount Vernon, 
* These resolves are ia Washington's vrritings, vol. ii., appendix, page 488. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 35 

whence they all pursued their journey together and were present at the 
opening of the Congress. As the debates of that distinguished assembly 
were never made public, the part performed by each individual can not 
now be known. In its transactions, however, Washington took an active 
part, and Mr. Wirt in his life of Patrick Henry relates an anecdote which 
shows in what estimation he was held by his associate members of 
Congress. Soon after Patrick Henry returned home, being asked Avhom 
he thought the greatest man in Congress, he replied : " If you speak of 
eloquence, Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina is by far the greatest orator ; 
but if you speak of solid information and sound judgment, Colonel Wash- 
ington is unquestionably the greatest man on that floor." 

Replying to a letter from his friend Captain Mackenzie of the British 
army, then stationed at Boston, in which that officer spoke of the rebel- 
lious conduct of the Bostonians, their military preparations, and their se- 
cret aim at independence, Washington wrote, while attending the Con- 
gress, giving his sentiments and views on the state of public affairs. 
The following are extracts : — 

" Although you are taught to believe that the people of Massachusetts 
are rebellious, setting up for independence, and what not ; give me leave, 
my good friend, to tell you that you are abused, grossly abused. Give 
me leave to add, and I think I can announce it as a fact, that it is not the 
wish or interest of that government, or any other upon this continent, sep- 
arately or collectively, to set up for independence ; but this you may at 
the same time rely on, that none of them will ever submit to the loss of 
those valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the happiness 
of every free state, and without which, life, liberty, and property, are ren- 
dered totally insecure. 

" Again, give me leave to add, as my opinion, that more blood will be 
spilled on this occasion, if the ministry are determined to push matters to 
extremity, than history has ever yet furnished instances of in the annals 
of North America, and such a vital wound will be given to the peace of 
this great country, as time itself can not cure, or eradicate the remem- 
brance of." 

What is here said of independence is confirmed by the address of the 
first Congress to the people of Great Britain. " You haA^e been told that 
we are seditious, impatient of government, and desirous of independency. 
Be assured that these are not facts, but calumnies." That such were at 
this time the sentiments of the leaders in America, there can be no rea- 
sonable doubt ; being accordant with all their public acts and priv^ate dec- 
larations. 

It is not easy to determine at what precise date the idea of independ- 
ence was first entertained by the principal persons in America. The spirit 
and form of their institutions led the colonists frequently to act as an inde- 
pendent people, and to set up high claims in regard to their rights and 



36 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

privileges ; but there is no sufficient evidence to prove, that any province, 
or any number of prominent individuals, entertained serious thoughts of 
separating entirely from the mother-country, till very near the actual com- 
mencement of the war of the revolution.* 

While Washington and his principal coadjutors had no confidence in 
the success of petitions to the king and parliament, and looked forward 
to the probable appeal to arms, they were still without any other anticipa- 
tions than by a resolute vindication of their rights to effect a change in 
the conduct and policy of the British government, and restore the colo- 
nies to their former condition. 

On returning from Congress to his farm, Colonel Washington was soon 
interrupted in his private occupations by the calls of his fellow-citizens of 
Virginia, to assist in organizing military companies for the defence of the 
colony, and to prepare for the approaching contest with Great Britain. 
He was consulted as the first military character in Virginia, and it seemed 
to be the expectation of the people that in the event of a war he would be 
placed in command of the Virginia forces. Being solicited to act as field- 
officer in an independent company, he wrote to his brother as follows : 
" I shall very cheerfully accept the honor of commanding it, if occasion 
require it to be drawn out, as it is my full intention to devote my life and 
fortune in the cause we are engaged in, if needful." 

Washington was a delegate to the second Virginia convention, which 
met at Richmond on the 20th of March, 1775, and approved of the pro- 
ceedings of the continental Congress of 1774. A committee, of which 
Washington was a member, was appointed, on motion of Patrick Henry, 
and reported a plan of defence, by embodying, arming, and disciplining 
the militia. He was also on a committee to devise a plan for the encour- 
agement of domestic arts and manufactures. The people were advised 
to form societies for that purpose, and the members of the convention 
agreed that they would use home manufactures in preference to any others, 

* Among those who from the first seemed, to have a presentiment that reconciliation with 
Great Britain was out of the question was Patrick Henry. As early as 1773, according to 
Mr. Wirt, he alluded to the probability of a Declaration of Independence, and predicted that 
after being assisted by France, Spain, and Holland, " our independence would be established 
and we should take our stand among the nations of the earth !" Down to the year 1775, how- 
ever the idea of independence was not generally prevalent or popular among the great mass 
of the American people. Doctor Timothy Dwight of New Haven, Connecticut, for many 
years president of Yale college, and for a time a chaplain in the revolutionary army, confirms 
this statement in his writings. " In the month of July, 1775," he says, " I urged in conversation 
with several gentlemen of great respectability, firm whigs, and my intimate friends, the im- 
portance, and even the necessity, of a declaration of independence on the part of the colonies, 
and alleged for this measure the very same arguments which aften\-ard were generally con- 
sidered as decisive ; but found them disposed to give me and my arguments, a hostile and 
contemptuous, instead of a cordial reception. These gentlemen may be considered as repre- 
sentatives of the great body of the thinking men in this country. A few may perhaps be 
excepted, but none of these durst at that time openly declare their opinions to the pubhc." 

Dxcight's Travels, vol. i., page 159. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 37 

themselves. The former delegates were again chosen by the convention 
to represent Virginia in the next continental Congress, and Washington 
with his colleagues repaired to Philadelphia, where that body assembled 
on the 10th of May, 1775. 

Hostilities having commenced between Great Britain and the colonies, 
Congress first proceeded to consider the state of the country and to pro- 
vide for defence. The military fame and reputation of Washington were 
universally acknowledged by his countrymen and duly appreciated by his 
associates in the national councils. He was appointed chairman of the 
various committees charged with the duty of making arrangements for de- 
fence ; including the devising of ways and means, making estimates, and 
preparing rules and regulations for the government of the army. The 
forces under the direction of Congress were, on motion of John Adams, 
called " the continental army." 

The selection of a commander-in-chief of the American armies, was a 
task of great delicacy and difficulty. There were several older officers 
than Colonel Washington, of experience and reputation, who had claims 
for the appointment, but it was considered good policy to make the selec- 
tion from Virginia, and all acknowledged the military accomplishments 
and other superior qualifications of Washington. The New England del- 
egates were among the foremost to propose and the most zealous to pro- 
mote the appointment of Colonel Washington. John Adams, one of the 
Massachusetts delegates, on moving that the army then besieging the Brit- 
ish troops in Boston should be adopted by Congress as a continental 
army, said it was his intention to propose for the office of commander-in- 
chief, a gentleman from Virginia who was at that time a member of their 
own body. When the day for the appointment arrived (the fifteenth of 
June, 1775), the nomination was made by Mr. Thomas Johnson of Mary- 
land. The choice was by ballot, and Colonel Washington was unani- 
mously elected. As soon as the result was ascertained, the house ad- 
journed. On the convening of Congress the next morning, the president 
communicated to him officially the notice of his appointment, and he rose 
in his place, and signified his acceptance in the following brief and appro- 
priate reply : — * 

" Mr. President : Though I am truly sensible of the high honor done 
me in this appointment, yet I feel great distress from a consciousness that 
my abilities and military experience may not be equal to the extensive and 
important trust. However, as the Congress desire it, I will enter upon 
the momentous duty, and exert every power I possess in their service, 
and for support of the glorious cause. I beg they will accept my most 
cordial thanks, for this distinguished testimony of their approbation. 

" But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavoraible to my repu- 
tation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room, that 

* Sparks. 



38 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal 
to the command I am honored with. 

" As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress, that, as no pecuni- 
ary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employ- 
ment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish 
to make any profit from it. I w^ill keep an exact account of my expenses ; 
those I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all I desire." 

In a letter to his wife, announcing his appointment, dated Philadelphia, 
June 18, 1775, Washington expressed similar sentiments to the foregoing, 
as follows : — 

" Mv Dearest : I am now set down to write to you on a subject which 
fills me with inexpressible concern, and this concern is greatly aggravated 
and increased, when I reflect upon the uneasiness I know it will give you. 
It has been determined in Congress, that the whole army raised for the 
defence of the American cause shall be put under my care, and that it is 
necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take upon me the 
conmiand of it. 

" You may believe me, when I assure you in the most solemn manner, 
that, so far from seeking this appointment, I have used every endeavor in 
my power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with you and 
the family, but from a consciousness of its being a trust too great for my 
capacity, and that I should enjoy more real happiness in one month with 
you at home, than I have the most, distant prospect of finding abroad, 
if my stay were to be seven times seven years. But as it has been a 
kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this service, I shall hope that 
my undertaking it is designed to answer some good purpose. You might 
and I suppose did perceive, from the tenor of my letters, that I was ap- 
prehensive I could not avoid this appointment, without exposing my char- 
acter to such censures, as would have reflected dishonor upon myself, and 
given pain to my friends. This, I am sure, could not, and ought not, to be 
pleasing to you, and must have lessened me considerably in my own es- 
teem. I shall rely, therefore, confidently on that Providence which has 
heretofore preserved and been bountiful to me." 

The appointment was made on the 15th of June, four days after which 
he received his commission from the president of Congress, declaring him 
commander-in-chief of all the forces then raised, or that should be raised, 
in the united colonies, or that should voluntarily offer their services for the 
defence of American liberty. The members of Congress by resolution, 
unanimously pledged themselves to maintain, assist, and adhere to him 
with their lives and fortunes, in the same cause. Four major-generals, 
eight brigadier-generals, and an adjutant-general, were likewise appointed 
by Congress for the continental army. 

On the 21st of June, Gen. Washington hastened from Philadelphia to 
join the continental army at Cambridge near Boston. He was accompa- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 39 

nied by Generals Lee and Schuyler, and escorted by a volunteer troop of 
light horse which continued with him to New York. On his way he was 
everywhere received by the people with enthusiasm, and the respect to 
which his new rank entitled him. The particidars of the battle of Bun- 
ker's hill reached him at New York, and increased his anxiety to hasten 
forward to the army. Leaving Gen. Schuyler in command at New York, 
Washington again pursued his journey, escorted by volunteer military 
companies, to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was met by a commit- 
tee of the provincial Congress of that colony, which attended him to 
Cambridge. He arrived at the latter place on the second of July, and 
took the command of the army the next day. 

At this time Gen. Washington found the British intrenched on Bunker's 
hill, having also three floating batteries in Mystic river, and a twenty-gun 
ship below the ferry between Boston and Charlestown. They had also a 
battery on Copp's hill, and were strongly fortified on Boston Neck. The 
Americans were intrenched at various points so as to form a line of siege 
around Boston and Charlestown. 

The effective force of the American army placed under the command 
of Washington, amounted to fourteen thousand, five hundred men, raised 
in the New England colonies.* Several circumstances concurred to ren- 
der this force very inadequate to active operations. Military stores were 
deficient in camp, and the whole amount in the country Avas inconsidera- 
ble. Under all these embarrassments, the general observed, that "he had 
the materials of a good army ; that the men were able-bodied, active, 
zealous in the cause, and of unquestionable courage." He immediately 
instituted such arrangements as were calculated to increase their capacity 
for service. The array was distributed into brigades and divisions, and 
on his recommendation, general stafl'-officers were appointed. Economy, 
union, and system, were introduced into every department. As the troops 
came into service under the authority of distinct colonial governments, no 
uniformity existed among the regiments. In Massachusetts, the men had 
chosen their officers, and (rank excepted) were in other respects, frequent- 
ly their equals. To form one uniform mass of these discordant materials, 
and to subject freemen, animated with the spirit of liberty, and collected 
for its defence, to the control of military discipline, required patience, for- 
bearance, and a spirit of accommodation. This delicate and arduous du- 
ty was undertaken by General Washington, and discharged with great 
address.- When he had made considerable progress in disciplining his 
army, the term for which enlistments had taken place was on the point of 
expiring. The commander-in-chief made early and forcible representa- 
tions to Congress on this subject, and urged them to adopt efficient meas- 
ures for the formation of a new army. They deputed three of their mem- 

* Several companies of riflemen from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, joined the ar- 
my at Cambridge in September, having marched from four to seven hundred miles. 



40 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

bers, Mr. Lynch, Dr. Franklin, and Mr. Harrison, to repair to camp, and 
in conjunction with him and the chief magistrates of the New England 
colonies, to confer on the most effectual mode of continuing, supporting, 
and regulating, a continental army. By them it was resolved to enlist 
23,722 men, as far as practicable, from the troops before Boston, to serve 
till the last day of December, 1776, unless sooner discharged by Congress. 

In the execution of this resolve, Washington called upon all officers 
and soldiers to make their election for retiring or continuing. Several of 
the inferior officers retired. Many of the men would not continue on any 
terms. Several refused, unless they were indulged with furloughs ; others 
unless they were allowed to choose their officers. So many impediments 
obstructed the recruiting service, that it required great address to obviate 
them. Washington made forcible appeals, in general orders, to the pride 
and patriotism of both officers and men. He promised every indulgence 
compatible with safety, and every comfort that the state of the country 
authorized. In general orders of the 20th of October, he observed : — 

" The times, and the importance of the great cause we are engaged in, 
allow no room for hesitation and delay. When life, liberty, and property, 
are at stake ; when our country is in danger of being a melancholy scene 
of bloodshed and desolation ; when our towns are laid in ashes, innocent 
■women and children driven from their peaceful habitations, exposed to the 
rigors of an inclement season, to depend perhaps on the hand of charity 
for support ; when calamities like these are staring us in the face, and a 
brutal savage enemy threatens us and everything we hold dear, with de- 
struction from foreign troops ; it little becomes the character of a soldier 
to shrink from danger, and condition for new terms. It is the general's 
intention to indulge both officers and soldiers who compose the new army 
with furloughs for a reasonable time ; but this must be done in such a 
manner as not to injure the service, or weaken the army too much at once.'' 

In the instructions given to the recruiting officers, the general enjoined 
upon them, " not to enlist any person suspected of being unfriendly to the 
liberties of America, or any abandoned vagabond, to whom all causes and 
countries are equal and alike indifferent."* 

Though great exertions had been made to procure recruits, yet the reg- 
iments were not filled. Several causes operated in producing this disin- 
clination to the service. The sufferings of the army had been great; fuel, 
clothes, and even provisions, had not been furnished them in sufficient 
quantities ; the small-pox deterred many from entering ; but the principal 
reason was a dislike to a military life. Much also of that enthusiasm 
which brought numbers to the field, on the commencement of hostilities 
had abated. The army of 1775 was wasting away by the expiration of 
the terms of service, and recruits for the new, entered slowly.* 

Unfortunately, an essential error had been committed in constituting the 

• Ramsay. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 41 ' 

first military establishment of the Union, the consequences of which 
ceased only with the war. The soldiers were enlisted for the term of 
one year, if not sooner discharged by Congress. This fatal error brought 
the American cause more than once into real hazard. 

General Washington had earnestly urged Congress to offer a bounty ; 
but this expedient was not adopted till late in January ; and on the last 
day of December, 1775, when the old army was disbanfled, only nine 
thousand six hundred and fifty men had been enlisted for the army of 1776. 

The general viewed with deep mortification the inactivity to which he 
v/as compelled to submit. His real difficulties were not generally known; 
his numbers were exaggerated ; his means of acting on the offensive 
were magnified ; the expulsion of the British army from Boston had been 
long since anticipated by many ; and those were not wanting who insinu- 
ated that the commander-in-chief was desirous of prolonging the war, in 
order to continue his own importance. 

Congress having manifested dispositions favorable to an attack on Bos- 
ton, General Washington continued to direct his utmost efforts to that ob- 
ject. In January, 1776, a council of war resolved, " that a vigorous at- 
tempt ought to be made on the ministerial troops in Boston, before they 
can be reinforced in the spring, if the means can be provided, and a favor- 
able opportunity should offer ;" and for this purpose that thirteen regi- 
ments of militia should be required from Massachusetts and the neighbor- 
ing colonies. The colonies complied with this requisition ; but such was 
the mildness of the early part of the winter, that the waters continued 
open, and of course impassable. 

Late in February, appearances among the British troops indicated an 
intention to evacuate Boston. But as these appearances might be decep- 
tive, General Washington determined to prosecute a plan which must 
force General Howe either to come to an action or abandon the town. 

Since the allowance of a bounty, recruiting had been more successful, 
and the regular force had been augmented to fourteen thousand men. 
The commander-in-chief had also called to his aid six thousand militia. 
Thus reinforced, he determined to take possession of the heights of Dor- 
chester and fortify them. As the possession of this post would enable 
him to annoy the ships in the harbor, and the soldiers in the town of Bos- 
ton, he was persuaded that a general action would ensue. Should this 
hope be disappointed, his purpose was to make the works on the heights 
of Dorchester preparatory to seizing and fortifying other points which 
commanded the harbor, a great part of the town, and the beach from which 
an embarkation must take place in the event of a retreat. 

To facilitate the execution of this plan, a heavy bombardment and can- 
nonade were commenced on the British lines on the second of March, 
which were repeated on the succeeding nights. On the east of them a 
strong detachment, imder the command of General Thomas, took posses- 



42 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

sion of the heights, and labored with such persevering activity through the 
night, that the works were sufficiently advanced by the morning nearly to 
cover them. 

It was necessary to dislodge the Americans or to evacuate the town, 
and General Howe determined to embrace the former part of the alterna- 
tive. Three thousand chosen men commanded by Lord Percy embarked, 
and fell down to the castle, in order to proceed up the river to the intended 
scene of action, but were scattered by a furious storm. Before they could 
be again in readiness for the attack, the works were made so strong that 
the attempt to storm them was thought unadvisable, and the evacuation of 
the town became inevitable. 

This determination was soon known to the Americans. A paper signed 
by some of the selectmen, and brought out by a flag, communicated the 
fact. This paper was accompanied by propositions said to be made by 
General Howe, relative to the security of the town and the peaceable 
embarkation of his army. The advances of the American troops were 
dibconlinued, and considerable detachments were moved toward New 
York before the actual evacuation of Boston. That event took place on 
the seventeenth of March, 1776 ; and in a few days the whole fleet sailed 
out of Nantasket road, directing its course eastward ; immediately after 
which the American army proceeded by divisions to New York, where it 
arrived on the fourteenth of April.* 

Washington and the continental army were received with enthusiasm 
by the inhabitants of Boston. The legislature of Massachusetts presented 
the commander-in-chief with an address, congratulating him on the suc- 
cessful result of the siege of Boston, and expressing their obligations for 
the great services he had rendered to his country. The continental Con- 
gress also passed a unanimous vote of thanks to him, and a gold medal 
was ordered to be struck commemorative of the evacuation of Boston, and 
as an honorable token of the public approbation of his conduct. 

General Howe, with the British army of about ten thousand men, and 
one thousand refugees or tories, sailed for Halifax in seventy-eight ships 
and transports ; but anxious for the safety of New York, and apprehen- 
sive that the British commander might have concealed his real designs 
and directed his course to that important point, the American commander- 
in-chief had directed the march of his army to New York, as already 
stated. They went by land to Norwich, Connecticut, and thence by water 
through Long Island sound. When it was ascertained that the British 
fleet had put to sea, ten days after the evacuation of Boston, Washington 
set off for New York, passing through Providence, Norwich, and New Lon- 
don. At Norwich he had an interview with Governor Trumbull who came 
there to meet him. On the thirteenth of April 'he arrived in New York.f 

General Washington found it impracticable, or inconsistent with his du- 
* Marshall. t Sparks. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 43 

ties to carry out his original design of visiting his family at Mount Ver- 
non in the winter, and attending for a short space to his private affairs. 
INIrs. Washington therefore joined him at headquarters at Cambridge, in 
December, 1775, where she remained till the next spring. This was her 
practice during the war. She passed the winters with her husband in 
camp, and returned at the opening of the campaigns to Mount Vernon. 

His large estates were consigned to the care of a superintendent, Mr. 
Lund Washington, who executed the trust with diligence and fidelity. 
Notwithstanding the multitude of public concerns, which at all times 
pressed heavily, and which he never neglected, the thoughts of General 
Washington constantly reverted to his farms. In the midst of the most 
stirring events of the war, he kept up an unremitted correspondence with 
his manager, in which he entered into details, gave minute instructions, 
and exacting reports, relating to the culture of his lands, and every trans- 
action of business. From the beginning to the end of the revolution, 
Lund Washington wrote to the general, as often at least as two or three 
times a month, and commonly every week, detailing minutely all the 
events that occurred on the plantation. These letters were regularly an- 
swered by the general, even when the weight and embarrassment of pub- 
lic duties pressed heavily upon him. 

An extract from one of his letters to Lund Washington on these topics, 
dated December, 1775, will show a trait of character, and the footing on 
which he left his household at Mount Vernon. 

" Let the hospitalities of the house, with respect to the poor, be kept 
up. Let no one go hungry away. If any of this kind of people should 
be in want of corn, supply their necessities, provided it does not encour- 
age them in idleness ; and I have no objection to your giving my money 
in charity, to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a year, when you think 
it well bestowed. What I mean by having no objection is, that is my 
desire that it should be done. You are to consider, that neither myself 
nor wife is now in the way to do these good offices. In all other respects, 
I recommend it to you, and have no doubt of your observing the greatest 
economy and frugality ; as I suppose you know, that I do not get a far- 
thing for my services here, more than my expenses. It becomes neces- 
sary, therefore, for me to be saving at home."* 

To detail all the operations of Washington in public affairs in the years 
which followed Avould be to repeat the history of the war of the Ameri- 
can revolution, and, of course, greatly exceed the limits of the part of this 
work allotted to a memoir of his life. We can therefore only allude to 
the prominent events with which his personal history was connected dur- 
ing that eventful period, following him rapidly in his movements, until 
peace and the acknowledgment of American independence by Great 
Britain crowned his efforts in the cause of his country. 

• Sparks. 



44 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

The evacuation of Boston varied the scene, but did not lessen the la- 
bors of Washington. Henceforward, he had a much more formidable en- 
emy to contend with. The royal army in Boston was, on a small scale, 
calculated to awe the inhabitants of Massachusetts into obedience, but 
the campaign of 1776 was opened in New York with a force far exceed- 
ing anything hitherto seen in America. Including the navy, as well as 
the army, it amounted to fifty-five thousand men, and was calculated on 
the idea of reducing the whole united colonies. The operations contem- 
plated could be best carried on from the central province of New York, 
and the army could be supplied with provisions from the adjacent islands, 
and easily defended by the British navy. For these reasons, the evacu- 
ation of Boston, and the concentration of the royal forces at New York, 
had been for some time resolved upon in England. 

The reasons that had induced the British to gain possession of New 
York, weighed with Washington to prevent or delay it. He had there- 
fore, as already stated, detached largely from his army before Boston, and 
sent General Lee to take the command, following the main army himself 
immediately after the evacuation, and departure of the British army from 
Boston ; and he now made every preparation in his power for the defence 
of New York. Considerable time was allowed for this purpose, in con- 
sequence of the delay of General Howe at Halifax, where that officer 
waited for promised reinforcements from England.* 

Besides the preparations for defence against the British army, Wash- 
ington had to guard against the numerous disaffected persons and tories, 
or American loyalists on Long island, Staten island, and in the city of 
New York. By the persevering representations of Washington, Con- 
gress adopted measures for the apprehension of this class of enemies to 
the American cause. Many tories were apprehended in New York and 
on Long island ; some were imprisoned, others disarmed. A deep plot 
originating with the British governor Tryon, who continued on board a 
vessel at the Hook, was defeated by a timely and fortunate discovery. 
His agents were found enlisting men in the American camp, and enticing 
them with rewards. The infection spread to a considerable extent, and 
even reached the general's guard, some of whom enlisted. A soldier of 
the guard was found guilty by a court-martial and executed. It was a 
part of the plot to seize General Washington and convey him to the 
enemy. t 

General Howe, with a part of the British fleet and army arrived at the 
hook from Halifax, in the latter part of June, and took possession of Staten 
island. The general then awaited the arrival of his brother Lord Howe, 
who was on his way from England with another fleet, and proposals from 
the British ministry for an accommodation to be offered to the Americans, 
before hostilities should be renewed. 

* B,amsay. t 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 45 

General Washington had visited Philadelphia in the month of May, for 
the purpose of advising with Congress on the state of affairs and concert- 
ing arrangements for the campaign. He was absent fifteen days, examin- 
ing on his way, Staten island and the Jersey shore, with the view of de- 
termining the proper places for works of defence. He seems to have 
been disappointed and concerned at dissensions in Congress which por- 
tended no good to the common cause. It was known, from late proceed- 
ings in parliament, that commissioners were coming out from England with 
proposals of accommodation. In a letter to his brother, dated at Phila- 
delphia, May 31, 1776. Washington expresses his gratification that the 
Virginia convention had passed a vote with great unanimity, recom- 
mending to Congress to declare the united colonies free and independent 
states. " Things have come to such a pass now," he writes, " as to convince 
us, that we have nothing more to expect from the justice of Great Brit- 
ain ; also that she is capable of the most delusive arts ; for I am satisfied 
that no commissioners were ever designed, except Hessians and other for- 
eigners ; and that the idea was only to deceive and throw us off our guard. 
The first has been too effectually accomplished ; as many members of 
Congress, in short, the representation of whole provinces, are still feeding 
themselves upon the dainty food of reconciliation ; and though they will 
not allow that the expectation of it has any influence upon their judgment 
with respect to their preparations for defence, it is but too obvious that it 
has an operation upon every part of their conduct, and is a clog to their 
proceedings. It is not in the nature of things to be otherwise ; for no 
man that entertains a hope of seeing this dispute speedily and equitably 
adjusted by commissioners, will go to the same expense and run the same 
hazards to prepare for the worst event, as he who believes that he must 
conquer, or submit to unconditional terms, and the concomitants, such as 
confiscation, hanging, and the like." 

Notwithstanding the hesitancy of some of the members of Congress, 
there was still a large majority for vigorous action ; and while he was 
there, they resolved to reinforce the army at New York, with thirteen 
thousand eight hundred militia, drawn from Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
New York, and New Jersey ; and a flying camp of ten thousand more, 
from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.* 

The Declaration of Independence by Congress, on the fourth of July, 
1776, was received by General Washington, and read to the troops under 
his command on the ninth, at six o'clock in the evening ; the regiments 
being paraded for the purpose. The document was read in the hearing 
of all, and received with the most hearty demonstrations of joy and satis- 
faction. In the orders of the day it was said, " The general hopes that 
this important event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer and sol- 
dier to act with fidelity and courage, as knowing, that now the peace and 

" Sparks. 



46 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON, 

safety of his country depend, under God, solely on the success of our 
arms, and that he is now in the service of a state possessed of sufficient 
power to reward his merit, and advance him to the highest honors of a 
free country." 

Lord Howe arrived at Staten island on the twelfth of July, joining his 
brother, the general, with the expected additional forces from England. 
The command of the fleet had been conferred upon the former, and both 
the brothers were commissioners for restoring peace to the colonies. 
Lord Howe was not deterred by the declaration of independence from try- 
ing the influence of his powers for pacification, although he regarded the 
declaration as a circumstance unfavorable to the success of his mission. 
He sent on shore a circular letter, dated off the coast of Massachusetts 
addressed severally to the late governors under the crown (whom he sup- 
posed to be still in power), enclosing a declaration which he requested 
them to make public. It announced his authority to grant pardons, and to 
declare any colony or place under the protection of the king. Assuran- 
ces were also given that the meritorious services of all persons who woul'j 
aid in restoring tranquillity in the colonies would be duly considered. 

These papers were transmitted by the commander-in-chief to Congress- 
who directed their publication, that the people " might be informed ol 
what nature were the commissioners, and what the terms with the expect 
ation of which the insidious court of Britain had sought to amuse and 
disarm them." 

About the same time Lord Howe despatched a letter to General Wash- 
ington by a flag, which the general refused to receive, as it did not acknowl- 
edge the public character with which he was invested, being directed 
" To George Washington, Esq." The course pursued was approved by 
Congress, and a resolve was passed, that in future no letters should be re- 
ceived from the enemy, by commanders in the American army which 
should not be directed to them in the characters they sustained, A few 
days afterward General Howe wrote to Washington, repeating the same 
superscription as had been used by his brother. This letter was likewise 
refused, but an explanation took place through an interview between Colo- 
nel Patterson, adjutant-general of the British army and General Washing- 
ton, General Howe was induced to change his superscription, and from 
that time all letters addressed by the British commanders to General 
Washington bore his proper titles. 

In the conference between Washington and Colonel Patterson, the ad- 
jutant-general observed that " the commissioners were armed with great 
powers, and would be very happy in effecting an accommodation." Gen- 
eral Washington replied " that from what appeared, these powers were 
only to grant pardons ; that they who had committed no fault wanted no 
pardon." 

General Howe, perceiving that all attempts at conciliation were hope- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 47 

less, prepared for the operations of the campaign. He however, delayed 
for some time active measures, as he was still waiting for further reinforce- 
ments. This period was employed by Washington in strengthening his 
worlis on New York island. Fort Washington, on an eminence in the 
north part of the island, on the east bank of the Hudson, and Fort Lee," 
on the opposite shore in New Jersey, were commenced, and between these 
forts the channel of the river was obstructed by hulks of vessels and 
chevaux-de-frise. Batteries were erected on the margins of the North 
and East rivers — redoubts were thrown up at different places, and the 
island generally placed in a state of defence 

The British reinforcements had all arrived by the middle of August, 
and the aggregate of their army was estimated at over twenty-four thou- 
sand men. To this army, aided in its operations by a numerous fleet, was 
opposed the American army, a force unstable in its nature, incapable from 
its structure of receiving discipline, and inferior to the enemy in numbers, 
in army, and in every military equipment. In a letter dated the 8th of 
August, General Washington stated his army consisted of only seventeen 
thousand, two hundred and twenty-five men, of whom three thousand, six 
hundred and sixty-eight were sick. This force was rendered the more 
inadequate to its objects by being necessarily divided for the defence of 
posts, some of which were fifteen miles distant from others, with naviga- 
ble waters between them. The army was soon afterward reinforced by 
regulars and militia, which augmented it to twenty-seven thousand men, 
of whom one fourth were sick. The diseases incident to new troops pre- 
vailed extensively, and were aggravated by a deficiency of tents. 

The American troops were so judiciously distributed on York island, 
Long island. Governor's island, Paulus Hook, and on the sound toward 
New Rochelle, East and West Chester, that the enemy were very cau- 
tious in determining when or where to commence offensive operations. 
Every probable point of embarkation was watched, and guarded with a 
force sufficient to embarrass, though very insufficient to prevent a landing. 
From the arrival of the British army at Staten island, the Americans were 
in daily expectation of being attacked. General Washington was there- 
fore strenuous in preparing his troops for action. He tried every expe- 
dient to kindle in their breasts the love of their country, and a high tone 
of indignation against its invaders. Thus did he, by infusing into every 
bosom those sentiments which would stimulate to the greatest individual 
exertion, endeavor to compensate for the want of arms, of discipline, and 
of numbers. 

Early in the morning of the twenty-second of August, the principal 
part of the British army landed on Long island, under cover of the guns 
of the fleet ; and extended their line from the Narrows, through Utrecht and 
Gravesend, to the village of Flatbush. On the twenty-seventh, the fifth 
day after landing, a general action took place between the two armies ; the 



48 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINOTOM. 

Americans on Long island, then commanded by General Putnam, being 
attacked by the British army, under General Chnton. The variety of 
ground, and the different parties employed in different places, both in the 
attack and defence, occasioned a succession of small engagements, pur- 
suits, and slaughter, which lasted for many hours. 

The Americans were defeated in all directions. The circumstances 
which eminently contributed to this, were the superior discipline of the 
assailants, and the want of early intelligence of their movements. There 
was not a single corps of cavalry in the American army. The transmis- 
sion of intelligence was of course always slow, and often impracticable. 
From the want of it, some of their detachments, while retreating before 
one portion of the enemy, were advancing toward another, of whose 
movements they were ignorant. 

In the height of the engagement Washington passed over to Long island, 
and with infinite regret saw the slaughter of his best troops, but had not 
the power to prevent it ; for had he drawn his whole force to their support 
he must have risked everything on a single engagement. He adopted the 
wiser plan of evacuating the island, with all the forces he could bring off. 
In superintending this necessary, but difficult and dangerous movement, 
and the events of the preceding day, Washington was indefatigable. For 
forty-eight hours he never closed his eyes, and was almost constantly on 
horseback. In less than thirteen hours the field artillery, tents, baggage, 
and about nine thousand men, were conveyed from Long island to the 
city of New York, over the East river, and without the knowledge of the 
British, though not six hundred yards distant. The darkness of the night 
and a heavy fog in the morning, together with a fair wind after midnight, 
favored this retreat. It was completed without interruption some time 
after the dawning of the day.* 

The loss of the Americans at the battle of Long island, was twelve 
hundred men, about a thousand of whom were captured. The loss of the 
British was less than four hundred. 

Immediately after the success of the British arms on Long island. Ad- 
miral Lord Howe, as one of the king's pacificators, made another attempt at 
negotiation. He admitted General Sullivan, who had been taken prisoner, 
to his parole, and sent him to Philadelphia with a verbal message to Con- 
gress, the purport of which was, that although not authorized to treat with 
Congress as such, it being an illegal assembly, yet he was desirous of 
conferring with some of its members as private gentlemen only, whom he 
would meet at any place they might appoint. To this Congress sent a 
reply by General Sullivan, refusing to authorize any of their body to con- 
fer with his lordship in their private capacity ; but saying that they would 
send a committee to inquire into his authority to treat with persons author- 
ized by Congress, and to hear his propositions for peace. Instructions 

* Eomsay. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 49 

were at the same time sent to General Washington by Congress, that no 
propositions for peace ought to be received, unless directed in writing to 
the representatives of the United States ; and to inform those who might 
make application for a treaty, that Congress would cheerfully conclude a 
treaty of peace whenever such should be proposed to them as representa- 
tives of an independent people.- 

Doctor Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge, were appointed 
by Congress to confer with Lord Howe, whom they met for that purpose 
on Staten island. As Lord Howe declined conferring with the committee 
except as private gentlemen, he being unauthorized to recognise Congress 
as a legal body, the conference terminated without effecting anything. 
The commissioners absolutely refused to entertain any propositions except 
they were made to them as the representatives of a free and independent 
people. The interview was therefore closed, with the understanding, that 
war or absolute independence were the only alternatives the Americans 
chose to recognise. 

General Howe now took measures to drive the Americans out of the 
city of New York. He made preparations to have troops landed from the 
ships on opposite sides of the upper part of the island, while the main body 
of the fleet entered the harbor, and took a position nearly within cannon-shot 
of the city. By this arrangement the Americans would be hemmed in, 
and be compelled to evacuate the city, or suffer the privations and dangers 
of a siege. 

Viewing these preparations of the British commander with alarm, Wash- 
ington called a council of war, on the twelfth of September, sixteen days 
after the battle of Long island, and recommended an immediate withdrawal 
of the troops. This measure was finally determined upon, and with great 
activity the Americans commenced removing the artillery and stores far 
above the city, to Dobb's ferry on the western shore of the Hudson. The 
commander-in-chief retired to the heights of Harlem, and a force of nine 
thousand men was stationed at Mount Washington, King's bridge, and 
other posts in the vicinity, while about five thousand remained near the 
city. The residue were placed between these extreme points, to act at 
either place as occasion might require. 

On the fifteenth, a division of the British army, landed at Kipp's bay on 
the East river, three miles above the city, and attacked the American batter- 
ies erected there. The troops stationed at this place fled with precipita- 
tion, without waiting for the approach of the enemy. Two brigades were 
put in motion to support them. General Washington rode to the scene of 
action, and to his great mortification met the whole party retreating. While 
he was exerting himself to rally them, on the appearance of a small corps 
of the enemy, they again broke and ran off in disorder. Such dastardly 
conduct raised a tempest in the usually tranquil mind of Washington. He 
viewed with infinite concern this behavior of bis troops, as threatening 
4 



50 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON, 

ruin to his country. His soul was harrowed up with apprehensions that 
his country would be conquered, her army disgraced, and her liberties de- 
stroyed, while the unsuccessful issue of the present struggle would, for ages 
to come, deter posterity from the bold design of asserting their rights. Im- 
pressed with these ideas, he hazarded his person for some considerable 
time in the rear of his own men, and in front of the enemy, with his 
horse's head toward the latter, as if in expectation that, by an honorable 
death, he might escape the infamy he dreaded from the dastardly conduct 
of troops in whom he could place no dependence. His aids, and the con- 
fidential friends around his person, by indirect violence, compelled him to 
retire. In consequence of their address and importunity, a life was saved 
for public service, which otherwise, from a sense of honor and a gust of 
passion, seemed to be devoted to almost certain destructicm.* 

The troops referred to continued their -retreat, until ihey reached the 
main body of the arm}'' at Harlem heights. The division in or near the 
city, under the command of General Putnam, retreated with great diffi- 
culty, leaving behind them their heavy artillery, and a large portion of the 
baggage, provisions, and military stores, including the tents, which had 
not been removed. The loss of the tents was severely felt by the army, 
at the approach of winter. Fifteen of the Americans were killed, and 
three hundred taken prisoners. The British army entered the city with- 
out much loss and took formal possession of it, to the great joy of the 
tories ; but they had hardly become quiet before a fire broke out, which 
raged until it had destroyed about a third of the city. 

General Howe having organized a temporary government, and left some 
troops in the city, marched with the main body of his army up York island 
and encamped near the American lines in front of Harlem heights. The 
British lines extended across the island, while their shipping defended 
their flanks. Washington had made his strongest post at King's bridge, 
as that preserved his communication with the country. On the day after 
the retreat from New York, a skirmish took place between advanced par- 
ties of both armies, in which the Americans gained a decided advantage, 
though with the loss of two gallant officers. Colonel Knowlton of Connec- 
ticut, and Major Leitch of Virginia. This was the first advantage the 
army under the command of Washington, had gained in the campaign. 
Its influence on the army was great, and the general gave public thanks 
to the troops engaged therein. 

On the twenty- second of October, Washington fell back to White Plains 
in Westchester county, and on the twenty-eighth, a partial action was 
fought there, which resulted in the repulse of the Americans, with some 
loss. Washington retired to Northcastle, five miles farther north, and 
Howe discontinued further pursuit, directing his attention to the American 
posts on the Hudson river. Forts Washington and Lee, were taken by 

* Ramsay. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 51 

the British army in November, the garrison in the former, consisting of 
nearly three thousand men, surrendering as prisoners-of-war, and the Brit- 
ish losing about a thousand men in the assault. The garrison in Fort Lee 
made a hasty retreat and joined the main army, leaving behind them their 
cannon, tents, and stores, which fell into the hands of the victors. 

It having become evident to General Washington, that General Howe 
had changed his plan of operations, and designed an invasion of New Jer- 
sey, he crossed the North river with the American army, and, retreating 
before Lord Cornwallis, who had entered New Jersey with six thousand 
men, he took post along the Hackensack river. His situation there was 
nearly similar to that which he had abandoned ; for he was liable to be 
enclosed between the Hackensack and Passaic rivers. He therefore, on 
the approach of the enemy, passed over to Newark, on the west side of 
the latter river, where he stood his ground some days ; but being incapa- 
ble of any effectual opposition, he retreated to New Brunswick, on the 
day Lord Cornwallis entered Newark. At New Brunswick, Washington 
kept his troops in motion, and even advanced a detachment, as if intending 
to engage the enemy. Nor did he quit this position till their advanced 
guards were in sight. He then retreated toward Trenton, pursuing a 
route near the Raritan river, that he might be in the way to prevent Gen- 
eral Howe from throwing in a strong detachment between him and Phila- 
delphia. Although this retreat was effected without loss from the enemy, 
the small force which began it was daily lessening, by the expiration of 
the term of service for which they were engaged. This terminated in 
November with many, and in December, with nearly two thirds of the 
residue. No persuasions were availing to induce their continuance. They 
abandoned their general, when the advancing enemy was nearly in sight. 
General Lee who commanded the eastern troops at White Plains, was or- 
dered by Washington to cross the North river, and join the retreating 
army in New Jersey. Lee was so tardy in obeying the order, that he 
was three weeks reaching Morristown. While on his march he lodged 
one night at a house about three miles from camp, where he was taken 
prisoner by a company of British light-horse. The command of his di- 
vision devolved on General Sullivan, who marched it to the main army. 
Four regiments under General Gates, soon after arrived from Ticonderoga. 
These forces with others, joined Washington, after he had crossed the 
Delaware with his army of about three thousand men, which he accom- 
plished on the seventh of December. The enemy did not attempt to cross 
the river, General Howe contenting himself with having overrun New 
Jersey. It was however expected, that, as soon as the ice should become 
sufficiently strong, the enemy would cross the Delaware, and bring all 
their force to bear upon Philadelphia. Anticipating this event. Congress 
adjourned to Baltimore ; and General Putnam who took the command of 



52 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

the militia in Philadelphia, was instructed to prepare for an obstinate de- 
fence of that city. 

In this very dangerous crisis, and which may be considered the most 
gloomy period of the war, Washington made every exertion to procure 
reinforcements. These exertions were in a great measure unavailing, ex- 
cept in and near Philadelphia. Fifteen hundred of the citizens of that 
metropolis marched to the aid of Washington. The American army now 
amounted to about seven thousand men, after the arrival of the forces un- 
der Sullivan and Gates. The two armies were separated from each other 
by the river Delaware. The British in the security of conquest, cantoned 
their troops in Burlington, Bordentown, Trenton, and other towns of New 
Jersey. On receiving information of their numbers and different canton- 
ments, Washington observed — " Now is the time to clip their wings, when 
they are so spread." Yielding to his native spirit of enterprise, which 
had hitherto been repressed, he formed the bold design of recrossing the 
Delaware, and attacking the British posts on its eastern banks.* 

In a letter to Joseph Reed, dated Bristol, Pennsylvania, December 23, 
1776, Washington thus discloses his designs : — 

" Christmas-day, at night, one hour before day, is the time fixed upon 
for our attempt on Trenton ; our numbers, sorry am I to say, being less than 
I had any conception of, but necessity, dire necessity, will, nay must, 
justify an attack." 

The desperate situation of the American cause at this time is thus al- 
luded to by him, in a letter to his brother, John Augustine Washington, 
dated, December 18, 1776: — 

" We were obliged to cross the Delaware with less than three thousand 
men fit for duty ; the enemy's numbers, from the best accounts, exceeding 
ten or twelve thousand men. 

" Since I came on this side, I have been joined by about two thousand 
of the city militia, and I understand that some of the country militia are 
on their way ; but we are in a very disaffected part of the province, and, 
between you and me, I think our afl^airs are in a very bad condition. 

" You can form no idea of the perplexity of my situation. No man, I 
believe, ever had a greater choice of difficulties, and less means to extri- 
cate himself from them. However, under a full conviction of the justice 
of our cause, I can not entertain an idea that it will finally sink, though 
it may remain for a time under a cloud." 

In the evening of Christmas-day, General Washington made arrange- 
ments for passing over the Delaware, in three divisions. At Trenton were 
three regiments of Hessians, amounting to about fifteen hundred men, and 
a troop of British light-horse. Small detachments of the British army 
were stationed at Bordentown, Burlington, Black Horse, and Mount Hol- 
ly. General Cadwallader was to cross at Bristol, and attack the latter 

J' Ramsay. 



BIOGRAPHICAi SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 53 

posts ; General Ewing was to cross a little below Trenton, to intercept 
the retreat of the enemy in that direction, while the commander-in-chief, 
with twenty-four hundred continental troops, should cross nine miles above 
Trenton, to make the principal attack. But Generals Cadwallader and 
Ewing were unable to pass, from the quantity of floating ice which ob- 
structed the boats. The division commanded by Washington, accompa- 
nied by Generals Greene, Sullivan, Stirling, Mercer, and St. Clair, alone 
succeeded. These troops began to cross early in the evening, but were so 
retarded by ice, that it was nearly four o'clock in the morning of the twenty- 
sixth, before the whole body with the artillery, was landed on the New 
Jersey bank of the river. They were formed in two divisions, and marched 
by different roads to Trenton, where they arrived within three minutes of 
each other, about eight o'clock in the morning. They met with but slight 
opposition, except from two or three pieces of artillery which were 
soon taken. The surprised Hessians attempted a retreat to Princeton, 
but were intercepted, and, finding themselves surrounded, soon laid 
down their arms and surrendered as prisoners-of-war. Between thirty 
and forty Hessians, among whom was Colonel Rahl, their commander, 
were killed. The American loss was two privates killed, and two others 
frozen to death. Captain William Washington, distinguished at a later 
period of the war as an officer of cavalry, and Lieutenant James Monroe, 
afterward president of the United States, were wounded in taking the ene- 
my's artillery. The number of prisoners was nearly one thousand, and 
the trophies of victory were six brass field-pieces, a thousand stand of 
arms, and considerable ammunition. The British light-horse, and about 
five hundred Hessians, escaped at the beginning of the action and fled to 
Bordentown, where they joined the British and Hessian troops in that vi- 
cinity and all retreated to Princeton ; thus the whole line of the enemy's 
encampments on the Delaware was broken up. It was thought most 
prudent by Washington to recross the Delaware, with all his prisoners 
and military stores, on the same day, which he accomplished the same 
evening, and gained his encampment on the Pennsylvania side. 

This brilliant exploit of Washington, and unexpected success of the 
continental troops under his command, electrified the American people, 
particularly those of the middle states, who were either desponding or dis- 
affected at the aspect of affairs, before the tables were turned by this for- 
tunate event. The British generals, Howe and Cornwallis, were aston- 
ished and bewildered at this display of vigor on the part of the American 
general. Previous to this afl^air at Trenton, New Jersey appeared to be 
subdued, Pennsylvania was supposed to be anxious for British pardon, and 
instead of off'ensive operations, the total dispersion of the small remnant 
of the American army was confidently anticipated. Finding that he was 
contending with an adversary who could never cease to be formidable, 
and that the conquest of America was more distant than had been sup- 



5i BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

posed, Gen. Howe determined, in the depth of winter, to commence active 
operations. Lord Cornvvallis, who had retired to New York, with the 
intention of embarking for England, returned to New Jersey in great force, 
for the purpose of recovering the ground which had been lost. The British 
army was assembled at Princeton, with the design of making an attack up- 
on the Americans under "Washington, who had again crossed the Delaware, 
and taken post at Trenton, determined to act on the offensive, after being 
joined by considerable reinforcements of regulars and militia. 

Lord Cornwallis advanced on the morning of the second of January, 
1777, and his van reached Trenton the same afternoon. On its approach, 
General Washington retired across the creek which runs through the 
town. The British finding the fords of the creek well guarded, desisted 
from attempts to cross, and kindled their fires. The Americans kindled 
their fires likewise, and a cannonade was kept up till dark. 

The situation of General Washington was once more extremely criti- 
cal. The passage of the Delaware was rendered difficult by the ice, and 
if he remained at. Trenton, an attack on the following morning, by an OA'er- 
whelming force seemed certain, which must render the destruction of his 
army inevitable. In this embarrassing state of things, he formed the bold 
design of abandoning the Delaware, and marching by a circuitous route 
along the left flank of the British army, into its rear at Princeton ; and, 
after beating the troops at that place, to move rapidly on Bnmswick, 
where the baggage, and principal magazines of the British army lay, un- 
der a weak guard.* 

This plan being approved by a council of war, Washington silently 
withdrew his army from Trenton, favored by the darkness of the night, 
while the enemy were at rest ; leaving a few of his men at work with 
pickaxes, and the camp-fires kindled, for the purpose of deceiving the 
British into the belief that the Americans were throwing up intrenchments. 
Before dawn these men left their work and hastened to join the American 
army who were then on a rapid march toward Princeton, where three 
British regiments had encamped the preceding night. Two of these regi- 
ments commencing their march toward Trenton, early in the morning to 
join the rear of their army, met the Americans, a mile and a half from 
Trenton. The morning being foggy, the enemy at first mistook the Amer- 
icans for Hessians, but the mistake was soon discovered, and a smart 
skirmish ensued. The British commander sent to Princeton for the other 
regiment, which was soon on the spot, and after a battle of more than an 
hour, the American militia gave way in disorder. General Mercer, at- 
tempting to rally them, was mortally wounded. Washington pushed for- 
ward at the head of his division and rallied the flying troops, who encour- 
aged by his example made a stand, and compelled the British to retreat in 
various directions. In the course of the engagement, one hundred of the 

* Marshall. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 55 

enemy were killed and wounded, and about three hundred taken prisoners. 
The rest made their escape ; some by pushing on to Trenton, others by 
returning to Brunswick. The American loss was about one hundred. 

At break of day, Lord Cornwallis perceived, to his great astonishment, 
that the Americans had deserted their camp at Trenton, and at once pene- 
trating the designs of Washington upon New Brmiswick, marched hastily 
toward that place to protect his stores there, and was close in the rear of 
the Americans, before they could leave Princeton. General Washington, 
finding his army exhausted with fatigue and closely pursued by a superior 
force, abandoned the remaining part of his original plan, and took the 
road leading up the country to the north. Lord Cornwallis continued his 
march to Brunswick, and Washington retired to Morristown, where he 
established his headquarters. Having given his army some repose, he 
entered the field again in an offensive attitude, and in a short time over- 
ran the whole country as far as the Raritan to the south. He also took 
possession of Newark, Elizabethtown, and Woodbridge. The British 
army, meanwhile, was restricting its operations to a small part of New 
Jersey. 

The victories at Trenton and Princeton produced the most extensive 
effects, and had a decided influence on subsequent events. Philadelphia 
was saved for that winter. New Jersey was mostly recovered from the 
enemy, and the drooping spirits of the Americans were revived. Their 
gloomy apprehensions yielded to a confidence in their general and their 
army, and in the ultimate success of their struggles for liberty and inde- 
pendence. 

Gen. Washington had been invested by Congress a few days before 
the successful aftair at Trenton, with additional and extraordinary powers 
as commander-in-chief, which additional powers were conferred on him 
for a period of six months, and the wisdom of the measure was soon seen 
and felt by the favorable turn of American affairs. After the recent suc- 
cesses he hoped that his countiy would have placed at his disposal a large 
and efficient army, to enable him to undertake decisive operations before 
reinforcements to the British army should arrive in the ensuing spring. 
Congress, at his instance passed the requisite resolutions ; but these could 
not be carried into effect, without the aid of the state legislatures. The 
recruiting service was therefore retarded by the delays consequent upon 
the action of thirteen legislative bodies, and Washington with infinite re- 
luctance, was obliged to give up his favorite project of an early active 
campaign. The remainder of the winter season passed over in a light 
war of skirmishes. They were generally in favor of the Americans ; but 
Washington's views were much more extensive ; he cherished hopes of 
being enabled to strike a decisive blow against the British forces during the 
winter, but being disappointed, he went into winter-quarters with the main 
army, at Morristown. Cantonments were likewise established at various 



56 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

points from Princeton on the right, where General Putnam commanded, 
to the Highlands on the left, which post continued under the charge of 
General Heath. The first care of General Washington, after putting the 
troops in winter-quarters, was drawn to the completion of the army for 
the next campaign ; and he wrote circular letters to the governors of the 
middle and eastern states, urging them to adopt prompt and effectual meth- 
ods for raising recruits, and filling up their regiments. To stimulate the 
activity of the states, by reiterated representations to their governors and 
legislatures, by argument, persuasion, and appeals to every motive of pride, 
honor, and patriotism, was the task which he was obliged to repeat every 
winter ; and this was a source of increasing anxiety, from the time the 
troops went into winter-quarters, till they again took the field to combat the 
enemy. Congress, embarrassed by the indefinite nature of their powers 
deliberated with caution, and were seldom ready to act in military affairs, 
till incited by the counsels or earnest entreaties of the commander-in- 
chief.* 

As the recruits for the American army were collected, the camp at 
Morristown was broken up, and the army assembled on the twenty-eighth 
of May, 1777, at Middlebrook, in New Jersey, ten miles from Brunswick. 
The exertions made during the winter by the commander-in-chief, to raise 
a powerful army for the ensuing campaign, had not been successful. On 
the twentieth of May, the total of the army in New Jersey, excluding 
cavalry and artillery, amounted only to eight thousand, three hundred and 
seventy-eight men, of whom upward of two thousand were sick, and more 
than half were raw recruits. Anticipating a movement of the British ar- 
my toward Philadelphia, Washington had given orders for assembling an 
army of militia, with a few continental troops, on the western bank of the 
Delaware, to be commanded by General Arnold. The primary objects to 
which Washington directed his attention in this campaign, were to en- 
deavor to prevent the British from obtaining possession of Philadelphia, 
or the Highlands on the Hudson river, and he made such an arrangement 
of his troops as would enable him to oppose either. The northern troops 
were divided between Ticonderoga, and Peekskill, while those from New 
Jersey, and other middle states, were encamped at Middlebrook. 

On the twelfth of June, General Howe assembled the main body of his 
army at Brunswick, in New Jersey, and gave strong indications of an in- 
tention to reach Philadelphia by land. The American army under Wash- 
ington, was now swelled to about fourteen thousand. Howe feigned a 
design to cross the Delaware by making toward that river, but failing to 
draw Washington into a general engagement, by his various manoeuvres, 
he withdrew his forces to Amboy, and passed over to Staten island, leav- 
irtg the Americans in quiet possession of New Jersey. Having aban- 
doned the idea of forming a junction with General Burgoyne, who, having 

• Sparks. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 57 

arrived from England with a powerful army, was invading the northern 
states by way of Canada, General Howe turned his attention toward Phil- 
adelphia. He resolved to proceed to that city by way of the Chesapeake 
bay, and accordingly embarked at Staten island, with about eighteen thou- 
sand troops, on board of the British fleet under Lord Howe. He left Gen- 
eral Sir Henry Clinton, with a large force to defend New York, and in 
the latter part of July appeared off the capes of Delaware ; but the fleet 
suddenly again put to sea, and its destination was for some time a matter 
of uncertainty to the Americans. In the meanwhile, Washington marched 
the main body of his army to Germantown, to await certain information 
respecting the movements of General Howe. During his suspense, he 
took an opportunity of conferring with committees of Congress, at Phila- 
delphia, and it was at this time that he had his first interview with the Mar- 
quis de Lafayette, on his arrival from France, to offer his services to the 
Americans. Congress appointed the marquis a major-general in the ar- 
my, and he was invited by General Washington to become a member of 
his military family, which position he maintained during the war. 

The British fleet having sailed up the Chesapeake, reached Elk river 
on the twenty-fifth of August, where the troops, under Gen. Howe were 
landed, and commenced their march toward Philadelphia. The day be- 
fore the landing of the British, the American army marched through Phil- 
adelphia, toward Wilmington, in Delaware. Advance parties from each 
army soon met, and several skirmishes took place. 

As the British army approached, Washington took post on the river 
Brandy wine, and awaited the attack of the enemy. A general action took 
place early on the eleventh of September, which continued all day, and 
terminated in favor of the British, who remained in possession of the field 
of battle, while the Americans retreated to Chester, and the following day 
to Philadelphia. 

The British force in this engagement, was stated at about eighteen thou- 
sand ; that of the Americans a little over eleven thousand. The American 
loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was over a thousand ; that of the 
British was less than six hundred. 

Washington made every exertion to repair the loss which had been sus- 
tained. The battle of Brandywine w^s represented as not being decis- 
ive. Congress and the people wished to hazard a second engagement, for 
the security of Philadelphia ; General Howe sought for it, and Washington 
did not decline it. He therefore advanced on the Lancaster road, with 
an intention of meeting the British army. Both armies were on the point 
of engaging, but were prevented by a violent storm. When the rain 
ceased, the Americans finding that their ammunition was ruined, withdrew 
to a place of safety. The British instead of urging an action, afterward 
began to march toward Reading. To save the stores at that place, Wash- 
ington took a new position, and left the British in undisturbed possession 



5S BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

of the roads which led to Philadelphia. His troops were worn down 
with a succession of severe duties. There were in his army above a 
thousand men who were barefooted, and who had performed all their late 
movements in that condition. 

Though Washington had failed in his object of saving Philadelphia, 
yet he retained the confidence of Congress and the states. With an ar- 
my inferior in numbers, discipline, and equipments, he had delayed the 
British army thirty days in advancing sixty miles through an open country, 
without fortifications. 

The British army entered Philadelphia, on the twenty-sixth of Septem- 
ber, and pushed forward to Germantown. Congress had previously ad- 
journed to Lancaster. While the British camp at Germantown was weak- 
ened by detachments sent against the American forts on the Delaware, 
Gen. Washington, having received considerable reinforcements to his ar- 
my, resolved to attack the enemy in their encampment. Accordingly, in 
the evening of the third of October, the Americans advanced in four divis- 
ions, and after a march of fourteen miles to Germantown, at daybreak the 
next morning took the British by surprise. A battle commenced, and for a 
time victory seemed to incline to the Americans ; but finally, after a severe 
action, they were repulsed with great slaughter, losing about eleven hun- 
dred men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners. The British loss was not 
more than half that number. General Howe shortly after evacuated Ger- 
mantown, and concentrated his forces at Philadelphia, where the British 
army under his command took up their winter-quarters. Howe at first 
directed his attention to the opening of the navigation of the DelaAvare 
river, which had been obstructed by many ingenious contrivances placed 
there by the Americans. This task employed the British for more than 
six weeks ; and after a great display of gallantry on both sides, it was 
finally accomplished. 

When the Delaware was cleared, and there was a free inland commu- 
nication for the British between Philadelphia and New York, Gen. Howe 
determined to close the campaign by an attack upon Washington, then 
stationed at Whitemarsh, about eleven miles from Philadelphia. On the 
night of the fourth of December, Howe marched out of the city and took 
post upon Chestnut Hill, in front oi the American army, which had been 
reinforced by detachments from the northern army. Finding Washing- 
ton's position too strong to risk a general attack, after a few days' skirmish- 
ing, Howe fell back upon Philadelphia. 

While the British arms were successful on the banks of the Delaware, 
intelligence arrived that General Burgoyne and the British army of the 
north, had surrendered prisoners-of-\var, to the American northern army 
under General Gates. This event took place at Saratoga, in the state of 
New York, on the seventeenth of October. On the receipt of this im- 
portant information, General Washington took measures to obtain large 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 5^ 

reinforcements to the forces under his immediate command, from the vic- 
torious troops of the north. He therefore deputed one of his aids, Colo- 
nel Alexander Hamilton, to wait on General Gates, and communicate his 
wishes to that officer. In his letter of instructions to Hamilton, General 
Washington writes as follows, under date of October 30, 1777 : — 

" It has been judged expedient by the members of a council of war 
held yesterday, that one of the gentlemen of my family should be sent to 
General Gates, in order to lay before him the state of this army, and the 
situation of the enemy, and to point out to him the many happy conse- 
quences that will accrue from an immediate reinforcement being sent from 
the northern army. I have thought proper to appoint you to that duty, and 
desire that you will immediately set out for Albany. 

" What you are chiefly to attend to is, to point out to General Gates the 
absolute necessity that there is for his detaching a very considerable part 
of the army, at present under his command, to the reinforcement of this ; 
a measure that will, in all probability, reduce General Howe to the same 
situation in which General Burgoyne now is, should h.e attempt to remain 
in Philadelphia. 

" I have understood that General Gates has already detached Nixon's 
and Glover's brigades to join General Putnam.* If this be a fact, you 
are to desire General Putnam, to send the two brigades forward with the 
greatest expedition, as there can be no occasion for them there." 

To the president of Congress, Washington also wrote on the first of 
November as follows : " I can not conceive that there is any object, now 
remaining, that demands our attention and most vigorous efforts so much as 
the destruction of the [British] army in this quarter. Should we be able 
to effect this, we shall have little to fear in future." And on the seven- 
teenth of November, he wrote to the same functionary thus : " I am anx- 
iously waiting the arrival of the troops from the northward, who ought to 
have been here before this. The want of these troops has embarrassed 
all my measures exceedingly." 

Instead of promptly seconding the desires of Washington, when com- 
municated to them by Hamilton, Generals Gates and Putnam were un- 
willing to part with a sufficient number of the troops under their respec- 
tive commands to effect the object designed. The former general was 
then contemplating an expedition to Ticonderoga, and the latter an attack 
on the British forces in New York. After considerable delay, those gen- 
erals, at the urgent request of Colonel Hamilton, finally sent on about five 
thousand men to the aid of General Washington; but in the meantime, 
Sir Henry .Clinton, who commanded the British forces stationed at the 
city of New York, detached about six thousand men to the aid of General 
Howe in Philadelphia. 

Thus, will it be seen, that the well-formed plans of General Washing- 
* General Putnam then commanded the troops on the Hudson river, below the Highlands. 



60 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

ton, to follow up the capture of the British army under Burgoyne, by that 
of the forces under Howe, were frustrated by the want of cordial co- 
operation on the part of Gates and Putnam. Had Washington succeeded 
by their prompt aid in effecting his purposes at Philadelphia, he would 
doubtless have moved upon New York, and by an attack upon that city, 
with the whole American forces, have either compelled the surrender of 
the forces under Sir Henry Clinton, or the evacuation by them of that 
point; and thus the campaign of 1777 would have been closed by a suc- 
cession of American victories and British reverses, from which the latter 
could not have recovered. Is it too much to say, that in that event. Great 
Britain would have sought for peace in 1778, as she did afterward in 1782, 
and that the American alliance with France, would have thus been ren- 
dered unnecessary? This view is confirmed by the correspondence of 
Washington, who evidently was of opinion that a protracted war for years 
was unnecessary. In a letter to John Parke Custis, dated, February 28, 
1781, more than three years after the fall of Philadelphia, he says, "We 
have brought a cause; which might have been happily terminated years ago 
by the adoption of proper measures, to the very verge of ruin," &c. 

The following extract of a letter from Washington to Patrick Henry, 
dated November 13, 1777, soon after the British had entered Philadelphia, 
throws farther light upon the state of affairs at this period ; and shows 
particularly that Washington's army had been weakened by reinforcements 
sent to the aid of General Gates. 

" I was left to fight two battles, in order if possible to save Philadel- 
phia, with less numbers than composed the army of my antagonist, while 
the world has given us double. 

" How different is the case in the northern department. There the 
states of New York and New England, resolving to crush Burgoyne, 
continued pouring in their troops till the surrender of that army. Had the 
same spirit pervaded the people of this and the neighboring states, we 
might before this time have had General Howe nearly in the situation of 
General Burgoyne. 

" My own difficulties in the course of the campaign have been not a 
little increased by the extra aid of continental troops which the gloomy 
prospect of our affairs, immediately after the reduction of Ticonderoga,* 
induced me to spare from this army." 

The campaign of 1777 having closed, Washington communicated in 
general orders his intention of retiring with his army into winter-quar- 
ters. He expressed to his officers and soldiers his high approbation of 
their past conduct ; gave an encouraging statement of the prospects of 
the country, and exhorted the men to bear the hardships inseparable 
from their condition. Valley Forge, about twenty miles northwest from 
Philadelphia, was selected by Washington for the winter-quarters of the 
* Ticondei-oga was taken by Burgoyne, on the 5th of July, 1777. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 6fl 

army. This position was preferred to distant and more comfortable villa- 
ges, as being calculated to give security to the country from the enemy. 
In the latter end of December, the troops were compelled to build huts 
for their own accommodation, and during the winter, which was unusual- 
ly severe, their sufferings were great, from want of both clothing and 
food, Washington was compelled to make seizures from the inhabitants, as 
he was authorized by Congress to do, for the sustenance of his army. 
The commander-in-chief and his principal officers sent for their wives, 
from the different states to which they belonged, to pass the winter with 
their husbands at headquarters. 

To the other vexations and troubles which crowded on General Wash- 
ington at this time, was added one of a peculiar nature. This was the 
formation of a cabal among members of Congress, and a few officers in 
the northern division of the army, the object of which was to supersede 
him in the command of the army, or to induce his resignation. This in- 
trigue is known in American history under the name of Conway''s cabal. 
Generals Gates, Mifflin, and Conway, are the only officers of note who 
were known to have been engaged in it. The former of these generals 
was proposed to supersede Washington. About the same time a board 
of war was created by Congress, of which General Gates was appoint- 
ed president. 

These machinations did not abate the ardor of Washington in the com- 
mon cause. His patriotism was too solid to be shaken, either by envy or 
ingratitude. Nor was the smallest effect produced in diminishing his well- 
earned reputation. Zeal the most active, and services the most beneficial, 
and at the same time disinterested, had riveted him in the affections of his 
country and the army. Even the victorious troops under Gen. Gates, though 
comparisons highly flattering to their vanity, had been made between them 
and the army in Pennsylvania, clung to Washington as their political sav- 
ior. The resentment of the people was generally excited against those 
who were supposed to be engaged in, or friendly to, the scheme of ap- 
pointing a new commander-in-chief over the American army.* 

The sufferings of the army while encamped at Valley Forge, are mem- 
morable in the history of the war. They were not only greatly in want 
of the necessary supplies of food, but of blankets and clothing. " Naked 
and starving as they are," says Washington in one of his letters, " we 
can not enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the sol- 
diery, that they have not been ere this excited by their sufferings, to a 
general mutiny and desertion." Although the officers were better provi- 
ded than the soldiers, yet none were exempt from privations and hardships. 
When the encampment was begun at Valley Forge, the whole number 
of men in the field was 11,098, of whom 2,898, were unfit for duty, " being 
barefoot and otherwise naked." Much of the suffering of the army was 

* Eamsay. 



62 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

attributed to mismanagement in the quartermaster's department ; while 
reforms on this subject were proposed in Congress, the distresses of the 
troops approached their acme. General Washington found it necessary 
to interpose his personal exertions to procure provisions from a distance. 
In a few days the army was rescued from tho famine with which it had 
been threatened. It was perceived that the difficulties which had oc- 
curred, were occasioned more by the want of due exertion in the commis- 
sary department, and by the efTorts of the people to save their stock for a 
better market, than by a real deficiency of food in the country. 

The impression made on the British nation by the capitulation of Bur- 
goyne, at length made its way into the cabinet, and Lord North brought 
into parliament two bills, which were adopted, having conciliation for their 
object. The first surrendered the principle of taxation, and the second 
empowered the crown to appoint commissioners to treat for peace with 
the United States. This movement was prompted by the apprehension 
that France would acknowledge the independence of America, and join 
in the war against England. 

The terms held out by these bills were such as would have been ac- 
cepted by the Americans in the early stages of the controversy, but they 
now came too late. It was no part of the plan of the British ministers 
to treat with the American states as an independent power. They were 
to go back to their old condition as colonies, favored with certain privi- 
leges ; but having declared their independence, and shed their blood, and 
expended their means to sustain it, these new offers of the British govern- 
ment were not likely to gain the confidence or change the sentiments of 
those who had taken the lead in the cause of American liberty. Wash- 
ington, in a letter to a member of Congress, after he had learned the pur- 
port of the conciliatory bills, expresses himself thus :' " Nothing short of 
independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. A peace on other terms 
would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a peace of war. The in- 
juries we have received from the British nation were so unprovoked, and 
have been so great and so many, that they can never be forgotten. Our 
fidelity as a people, our gratitude, our character as men, are opposed to a 
coalition with them as subjects, but in case of the last extremity." The 
subject appeared in the same light to Congress, and they unanimously re- 
solved, that no advances on the part of the British government would be 
met, unless, as a preliminary step, they either withdrew their armies and 
fleets, or acknowledged, unequivocally, the independence of the United 
States. 

On the second of May, 1778, ten days after Congress had passed their 
resolves respecting Lord North's bill of conciliation, a messenger arrived 
in the United States, bearing treaties of amity, commerce, and alliance, 
between France and America, signed at Paris, on the sixth of February, 
1778, by which the independence of the United States was formally ac- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 63 

knowledged by the former power. This intelligence was received with 
joy by the Americans, and the army participated in the rejoicings of the 
people on the occasion, and a day was set apart by the commander-in- 
chief for a public celebration in camp. 

The British kept possession of Philadelphia through the winter and the 
spring following ; and although Washington's camp was within twenty 
miles of the city, yet no enterprise was undertaken to molest him in his 
quarters. Foraging parties were sent out, and committed depredations on 
the inhabitants ; but they were watched by the Americans, Avho some- 
times met them in fierce and bloody rencontres. The British army in 
New York and Philadelphia, amounted to nearly thirty thousand, of which 
number 19,500 were in Philadelphia, and 10,400 in New York. There 
were besides 3,700 at Rhode Island. The American army on the eighth 
of May, 1778, did not exceed 15,000 men, including the detachments on 
the North river, and at other places. The number at Valley Forge was 
11,800. The new establishment agreed upon by a committee of Con- 
gress at Valley Forge, was to consist of forty thousand continental troops, 
besides artillery and horse ; but it was not supposed by a council of war, 
held on the eighth of May, that it could soon be raised higher than twenty 
thousand effective men, while the British army in the middle and eastern 
.states, amounted, as above stated, to upward of thirty-three thousand.* 

Sir William Howe, having at his own request been recalled, resigned 
the command of the British army to Sir Henry Clinton, and embarked for 
England. About the same time, orders were received for the evacuation 
of Philadelphia. The great naval force of France rendered that city a 
dangerous position, and determined the British cabinet to withdraw their 
army from the Delaware. 

On the morning of the eighteenth of June, Philadelphia was evacuated 
by the British army, which crossed the Delaware, and landed on Glouces- 
ter point. Their line extended nearly twelve miles, and as they were encum- 
bered with numerous wagons, and compelled to stop and build bridges 
over the streams in their route, their progress was slow. It was the first 
purpose of Sir Henry Clinton to proceed to the Raritan, and embark his 
troops at Brunswick, or South Amboy, for New York, but finding Wash- 
ington with his army in motion in that direction, he turned to the right and 
took the road leading to Monmouth and Sandy Hook. 

A council of war, called by Washington, to discuss the best mode of 
attacking the enemy on their march, was divided in opinion. Gen. Lee 
and others advising to avoid a general battle, but to harass the enemy up- 
on flank and rear. Washington determined to act according to his own 
judgment, and sent forward a detachment to commence an attack, while 
he with the rest of the army followed to support the advance corps. Sir 
Henry Clinton, with the British army encamped near Monmouth court- 

* Sparks. 



64 BTOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

house, whence they commenced their march on the twenty-eighth of June, 
and were attacked by the Americans. The battle became general, and 
lasted till night, when both armies remained on the field. The British 
troops withdrew during the night, and soon after proceeded to Sandy Hook, 
where they embarked on board a fleet for New York. 

The battle of Monmouth, although favorable to the Americans, was not 
a decided victory ; yet Congress viewed it somewhat in that light, and 
passed a vote of thanks to the commander-in-chief and the army. The 
American loss w^as sixty-nine killed, while the British loss was much 
greater, being nearly three hundred. On their march through New Jer- 
sey, the British army lost by battle, captured as prisoners, and desertion, 
more than twelve hundred men. The conduct of General Lee, at the 
battle of Monmouth, in ordering a hasty retreat of his detachment and 
otherwise, was severely censured by Washington ; he was consequently 
tried bv a court-martial, found guilty of the charges against him, and sus- 
pended from his command for one year. He left the service, and died 
four years afterward, in Philadelphia. 

After the action at Monmouth, General Washington marched with his 
army to the Hudson river, which he crossed, and encamped at White 
Plains, about twenty-five miles north of the city of New York. Before 
crossing the river, he heard of the arrival on the coast of a French fleet, 
under Count d'Estaing, consisting of twelve ships-of-the-line and four 
frigates. No time was lost by the American general in sending a letter 
of congratulation to the French admiral, and proposing to co-operate with 
him, in plans for attacking the enemy. It was at first proposed to attack 
New York, by land and water ; but the scheme was abandoned, and the 
French squadron sailed for Rhode Island, to attack the British forces there, 
chiefly in garrison at Newport. Various causes conspired to the failure 
of this expedition, by defeating the combined action of the land and naval 
forces. After leaving Newport, the French fleet was crippled by a storm 
and engagement at sea, and put into the harbor of Boston to refit, where 
they remained until November. 

The American army was employed in various operations in the northern 
and eastern states, during the campaign of 1778, to guard against an ap- 
prehended attack by the British on Boston, or some other point at the 
eastward ; but it was finally ascertained that the enemy had no design in 
that direction. Washington established his headquarters at Fredericks- 
burg, thirty miles from West Point, on the borders of Connecticut, and at 
the close of the campaign put his army in winter-quarters at West Point 
and at several other places, his headquarters being at Middlebrook, in 
New Jersey. 

Notwithstanding the flattering prospects which the alliance with France 
held out for the American cause. General Washington at this time had 
many causes of anxiety which oppressed him, and filled his mind with 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 65 

the most gloomy feelings. Among the most prominent subjects of anxiety 
and apprehension, he viewed that of the apathy and dissensions among 
members of Congress with alarm. The men of talent who had taken the 
lead in Congress, in the early period of the war, had gradually withdrawn 
from that body, until it had become small in numbers and comparatively 
feeble in counsels and resources. At no time were private jealousies and 
party feuds more rife or mischievous in their effects. 

To those in whom he had confidence, Washington laid open his fears, 
and endeavored to awaken a sense of the public danger. To Benjamin 
Harrison, of Virginia, he thus writes, on the 30th of December, 1778 : 
" I confess to you that I feel more real distress on account of the present 
appearances of things, than I have done at any one time since the com- 
mencement of the dispute. But Providence has heretofore taken us up, 
when all other means and hope seemed to be departing from us. In this 
I will confide." 

A project for conquering Canada was at this time entertained in Con- 
gress ; but Washington, being requested to communicate his sentiments 
on the subject, replied in a long letter to Congress, showing that the 
plan was impracticable, requiring resources in troops and money which 
were not to be had ; also, that there were political reasons why it would 
be against the future interests of the United States for Canada to be re- 
stored to France, as would probably be the case if conquered by the allied 
forces of France and America. He afterward, in December, 1777, vis- 
ited Philadelphia ; and on a more full discussion of the subject with a 
committee of Congress, the Canada scheme was given up. The French 
government was also decidedly opposed to it, and it was the policy of that 
court that Canada and Nova Scotia should remain in the power of Great 
Britain.* 

The winter and spring of 1779 passed away without the occurrence 
of any remarkable event. The British remained within their lines at 
New York, apparently making no preparation for any enterprise of mag- 
nitude. General Washington, in the meantime, turned his attention to the 
•fitting out of an expedition against the hostile Indians in the state of New 
York. General Sullivan was despatched with a large force to the Sus- 
quehannah river, and was completely successful in subduing the Indians. 

Washington removed his headquarters to New Windsor, a few miles 
above West Point, distributing his army chiefly in and near the highlands 
of the Hudson river, but stationing a force below, to check any sudden 
incursion of the enemy. Washington at this time resolved upon an attack 
on the strong British post at Stony Point, on the Hudson river, and in- 
trusted the enterprise to General Wayne. That officer stormed the works 
on the night of the 15th of July, with a body of picked men, and the as- 
sault was successful in all its parts. The number of prisoners captured 

" Sparks. 



6G BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHIKGTON. 

by the Americans was 543, and the number killed on the side of the British 
was 63 ; while the American loss was 15 killed, and 83 wounded. 

The campaign of 1779 having terminated, the American army went into 
winter-quarters ; the main body in the neighborhood of Morristown, in 
New Jersey, and various detachments on the Hudson river and in Con- 
necticut. The headquarters of Washington were at Morristown. A de- 
scent upon Staten island by a party of Americans under Lord Stirling, a 
retaliatory iucursion of the enemy into New Jersey, and a skirmish near 
White Plains, were the only military events during the winter. 

In April, 1780, the marquis de Lafayette arrived at Boston from France, 
with the cherring intelligence that the French government had fitted out 
an armament of naval and land forces, which might soon be expected in 
the United States. On the 10th of July, the French fleet arrived at New- 
port, in Rhode Island. The armament consisted of seven or eight ships- 
of-the-line, two frigates, two bombs, and upward of five thousand men. 
The fleet was commanded by De Ternay, and the army by Count de 
Rochambeau. The general and troops were directed by the French gov- 
ernment to be in all cases under the command of General Washington. 

Having a decided naval superiority, the British fleet, under Admiral 
Arbuthnot, blockaded the French squadron in the harbor of Newport, and 
Rochambeau's army was obliged to remain there for its protection. This 
state of things continued through the season, and no military enterprise 
was undertaken. Both parties stood on the defensive, watching each 
others motions, and depending on the operations of the British and 
French fleets. General Washington encamped on the west side of the 
Hudson, below Orangetown, or Tappan, on the borders of New Jersey, 
which station he held till winter. 

A conference was held between the commanders of the two allied 
armies, being suggested by Rochambeau, and readily assented to by 
Washington. They met at Hartford, in Connecticut, on the 21st of Sep- 
tember. During the absence of General Washington, the army was left 
under the command of General Greene. No definite plan of operations 
could be agreed upon between the American and French commanders, as 
a naval superiority was essential to any efTectual enterprise by land, and 
the French fleet was inferior to that of the British naval force on the 
American station. 

At this time, General Arnold held the command at West Point, and other 
fortified posts on the Hudson river, in the highlands. On Washington's 
return to West Point from the conference with the French commander at 
Hartford, he was filled with astonishment at the discovery of a plot which 
had been formed between General Arnold and Sir Henry Clinton, to de- 
liver up the American post to the enemy — the agent employed by the 
British general being Major John Andre, adjutant-general in the British 
army. On the detection of his treachery, Arnold fled to a British sloop- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 67 

of-war in the Hudson river, immediately after the arrival of Washington 
at West Point, on the 25th of September. Major Andre had been taken 
by the Americans, and was soon after removed to the headquarters of the 
army at Tappan. 

On discovering the treason of Arnold, Washington took immediate 
measures to secure the posts. Orders were despatched to all the princi- 
pal officers, and every precaution was taken. It was soon ascertained by 
Washington that no other officer in the American army was implicated in 
the conspiracy of Arnold ; and he forthwith ordered a court of inquiry, 
consisting of a board of general officers, for the trial of Major Andre. 
Various papers were laid before the board, which met on the twenty-ninth 
of September, and Andre himself was questioned and desired to make 
such statements and explanations as he chose. After a full investigation, 
the board reported the essential facts which had appeared, with their 
opinion that he was a spy and ought to suffer death. General Washing- 
ton approved this decision, and Major Andre was executed at Tappan, on 
the second of October. He met his fate with composure and dignity. 

While Andre's case was pending. Sir Henry Clinton used every effort 
in his power to rescue him from his fate. He wrote to General Wash- 
ington, and endeavored to show that he could not be regarded as a spy, 
inasmuch as he came on shore at the request of an American general, and 
afterward acted by his direction. Connected with all the circumstances, 
this argument could have no weight. There was no stronger trait in the 
character of Washington than humanity ; the misfortunes and sufferings 
of others touched him keenly ; and his feelings were deeply moved at the 
part he was compelled to act, in consenting to the death of Andre ; yet, 
justice to the office he held, and to the cause for which his countrymen 
were shedding their blood, left him no alternative.* 

While these operations were going on at the north, all the intelligence 
from the southern states showed that the American cause was in a gloomy 
condition in that quarter. The British forces under Lord Cornwallis were 
overrunning the Carolinas, and preparations were making in New York to 
detach a squadron with troops to fall upon Virginia. The city of Charles- 
ton had been taken by the British in May, 1780, and the American army 
of six thousand, under General Lincoln, stationed there, surrendered pris- 
oners-of-war. The defeat of General Gates near Camden, in South Car- 
olina, in August, was a heavy blow to the Americans. Congress re- 
quested General Washington to appoint an officer to succeed Gates in the 
command of the southern army. With his usual discrimination and judg- 
ment, he selected General Greene, who repaired to the theatre of action, 
in which he was so eminently distinguished during the subsequent years 
of the war. 

Congress at length adopted the important measures, in regard to the 

* Sparks. 



68 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

army which Washington had earnestly and repeatedly advised. They 
decreed that all the troops thenceforward to be raised, should be enlisted 
to serve during the war ; and that all the officers who continued in the 
service to the end of the war, should be entitled to half-pay for life. 
Washington ever believed, that, if this system had been pursued from the 
beginning, it would have shortened the war, or at least have caused a 
great diminution of the expense. Unfortunately the states did not comply 
with the former part of the requisition, but adhered to the old method of 
filling up their quotas with men raised for three years, and for shorter 
terms. The extreme difficulty of procuring recruits, was the reason as- 
signed for persevering in this practice. 

The army went into winter-quarters at the end of November ; the Penn- 
sylvania line near Morristown, the New Jersey regiments at Pompton, and 
the eastern troops in the Highlands. The headquarters of the commander- 
in-chief were at New Windsor, on the Hudson river. The French army 
remained at Newport, Rhode Island, except the duke de Lauzun's legion, 
which was cantoned at Lebanon, in Connecticut.* 

Washington felt with infinite regret, the succession of abortive projects 
throughout the campaign of 1780. In that year he had indulged the hope 
of terminating the war. In a letter to a friend, he wrote as follows : " We 
are now drawing to a close an inactive campaign, the beginning of which 
appeared pregnant with events of a very favorable complexion. I hoped, 
but I hoped in vain, that a prospect was opening which would enable me 

to fix a period to my military pursuits, and restore me to domestic life." 

« * * * *** * * * * * 

" But alas ! these prospects, flattering as they were, have proved delu- 
sory ; and I see nothing before us but accumulating distress. We have 
been half of our time without provisions, and are likely to continue so. 
We have no magazines, nor money to form them. We have lived upon 
expedients until we can live no longer. In a word, the history of the war 
is a history of false hopes and temporary devices, instead of system and 
economy. It is in vain, however, to look back ; nor is it our business to 
do so. Our case is not desperate, if virtue exists in the people, and there 
is wisdom among our rulers. But to suppose that this great revolution 
can be accomplished by a temporary army, that this army will be sub- 
sisted by state supplies, and that taxation alone is adequate to our wants, 
is, in my opinion, absurd." 

A dangerous mutiny broke out in January, 1781, among the Pennsylvania 
troops stationed near Morristown, which was suppressed by the prudence 
and good management of Gen. Wayne, acting under the advice of Wash- 
ington, and aided by a committee of Congress. The latter proposed terms 
to the revolters, which were accepted. This mutiny was followed by a 
similar revolt of the New Jersey troops, which was promptly put down 

* Sparks. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 69 

by an armed force under Gen. Howe, by direction of Washington. Two 
of the ringleaders were tried by a court-martial and shot. By this sum- 
mary proceeding, the spirit of mutiny in the army was subdued 

Colonel John Laurens, having been appointed on a mission to France, 
to obtain a loan and military supplies, Washington wrote a letter to that 
gentleman, in support of the application of Congress, which was first 
presented by the commissioner to Dr. Franklin, and afterward laid before 
the French king and cabinet. The French government having determined 
to grant the aid requested, previous to the arrival of Colonel Laurens, sug- 
gested that the money to be appropriated for the army, should be left at 
the disposal of General Washington. 

On the first of May, 178], Gen. Washington commenced a military 
journal, from which the following is an extract : " I begin at this epoch 
a concise journal of military transactions, &c. I lament not having at- 
tempted it from the commencement of the war, in aid of my memory ; and 
wish the multiplicity of matter which continually surrounds me, and the 
embarrassed state of our affairs, which is momentarily calling the atten- 
tion to perplexities of one kind or another, may not defeat altogether, or 
so interrupt my present intention and plans, as to render it of little avail." 

After briefly sketching the wants and condition of the army at the time, 
he adds : " In a word, instead of having anything in readiness to take the 
field, we have nothing ; and instead of having the prospect of a glorious 
and offensive campaign before us, we have a bewildered and gloomy pros- 
pect of a defensive one ; unless we should receive a powerful aid of ships, 
troops, and money, from our generous allies, and these at present are 
too contingent to build upon." 

While the Americans were sufl'ering the complicated calamities which 
introduced the year 1781, their adversaries were carrying on the most ex- 
tensive plan of operations against them which had ever been attempted. 
The war raged in that year, not only in the vicinity of the British head- 
quarters at New York, but in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, 
and in Virginia. 

While the war raged in Virginia, the governor thereof, its representa- 
tives in Congress, and other influential citizens, urged his return, in defence 
of his native state. But, considering America as his country, and the gen- 
eral safety as his object, he deemed it of more importance to remain on the 
Hudson. In Washington's disregard of property, when in competition 
with national objects, he was in no respect partial to his own. While the 
British were in the Potomac, they sent a flag on shore to his estate at 
Mount Vernon requiring a fresh supply of provisions. To save the build- 
ings from destruction his agent granted the supply of provisions required 
by the enemy. For this he received a severe reprimand from the gen- 
eral, who in a letter to the agent observed, that " it would have been a 
less painful circumstance to me to have heard, that in consequence of your 



70 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

noncompliance with the request of the British, they had hiirnt my house, 
and laid my plantation in ruins. You ought to have considered yourself 
as my representative, and should have reflected on the bad example of 
communicating with the enemy, and making a voluntary offer of refresh- 
ment to them, with a view to prevent a conflagration." 

Though, in conducting the war. General Washington often acted on the 
Fabian system, by evacuating, retreating, and avoiding decisive engage- 
ments, yet this was much more the result of necessity than of choice. 
His uniform opinion was in favor of energetic ofi'ensive operations, as the 
most eflectual means of bringing the war to a termination. On this prin- 
ciple he planned attacks, in almost every year, on some one or other of 
the British armies or strong posts in the United States. He endeavored, 
from year to year, to stimulate the public mind to some great operation, 
but was never properly supported. In the years 1778, '79, and '80, the 
projected operations with the French, as has been related, entirely mis- 
carried. The idea of ending the war by some decisive military exploit, 
continually occupied his active mind. To insure success, a naval supe- 
riority on the coast, and a loan of money, were indispensably necessary. 
To obtain these necessary aids, the French government were applied to, 
as already stated. His most Christian majesty (Louis XVI.) gave his 
American allies a subsidy of six millions of livres, and became their se- 
curity for ten millions more, borrowed in Holland. A naval co-operation 
was promised, and a conjunct expedition against their common foes pro- 
jected.* 

To mature the plan for the campaign, and to communicate personally 
with the French commanders, General Washington made a journey to 
Newport. He left headquarters on the second of March, and was absent 
nearly three weeks. The citizens of Newport received him with a public 
address, expressive of their attachment and gratitude for his services. A 
second meeting for consultation took place between the American and 
French commanders, at Wethersfield, in Connecticut, on the twenty- 
second of May. The two principal objects considered were, first, a 
southern expedition to act against the enemy in Virginia ; secondly, a 
combined attack on New York. The French commander leaned to the 
former, but he yielded to the stronger reasons for the latter, which was 
decidedly preferred by General Washington. It was believed that Sir 
Henry Clinton's force in New York had been so much weakened by de- 
tachments, that the British general would be compelled either to sacrifice 
that place and its dependencies, or recall part of his troops from the south 
to defend them. 

It was therefore agreed that Count de Rochambeau should march with 
the French army, as soon as possible, from Newport, and form a junction 
with the American army near the Hudson river. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 71 

The attention of Washington was but partially taken up with the affairs 
under his own eye. He held a constant correspondence with Generals 
Greene and Latayette, who kept him informed of the operations at the 
south, and asked his advice and directions. Other sections of the coun- 
try, also, required and received his care and attention. 

On the sixth of July, the French army formed a junction with the 
American forces on the Hudson, a few miles north of the city of New 
York. The French army, which had marched in four divisions from 
Providence, by way of Hartford, occupied the left, in a single line extend- 
ing to the river Bronx. The Americans encamped in two lines, with their 
right resting on the Hudson. 

Preparations were made for an attack on New York, and Washington 
pushed forward with the main army to within four miles of King's bridge, 
but finally fell back to Dobb's ferry, at which place the two armies contin- 
ued six weeks. The American commander, observing how tardily his call 
on the respective states for troops was responded to, resolved not to make 
an attack until the arrival of the French fleet, under Count de Grasse, 
from the West Indies, then daily expected. At length, in August, he re- 
ceived a letter from De Grasse, informing him that he was about to sail 
with his whole fleet, and 3,200 land troops, for the Chesapeake. Wash- 
ington at once resolved to abandon the project of an attack upon New 
York, and, with the cordial co-operation of Count de Rochambeau, pro- 
ceeded without delay toward Virginia, with the whole of the French army, 
and as many Americans as could be spared from the posts on the Hudson. 
Washington and De Rochambeau preceded the army, and reached Lafay- 
ette's headquarters, at Williamsburg, Virginia, on the fourteenth of Sep- 
tember, where, soon after, the whole army arrived. On his way, Wash- 
ington made a flying visit to his seat at Mount Vernon, for the first time 
in six years, so completely had he devoted himself to the service of his 
country. 

The French fleet under Count de Grasse, consisting of twenty-six 
ships-of-the-line and several frigates, entered the Chesapeake, where they 
were joined by the French squadron from Newport. Three thousand 
troops, under the marquis de St. Simon, disembarked from the French 
fleet, ascended the James river, and joined the allied armies at Williams- 
burg. The whole combined forces then took up their line of march for 
Yorktown, where the British army, under Lord Cornwallis,was entrenched; 
having erected strong fortifications at that place, and at Gloucester point, 
on the opposite shore. 

On the thirtieth of September, the allied armies completely invested 
Yorktown, the Americans being on the right, and the French on the left, 
in a semicircular line, each wing resting on York river. The post at 
Gloucester was invested by part of the French army and marines, with 
sonie Virginia militia. On the ninth and tenth of October, the Americans 



72 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ft'ASHINGTON. 

and French opened their batteries, and destroyed an English frigate and 
transport in the harbor. The siege lasted seventeen days, and was vigor- 
ously kept up, when, on the seventeenth of October, Lord Cornwallis pro- 
posed a cessation of hostilities, and the appointment of a commission to 
conclude upon terms for surrendering tlie posts of Yorktown and Glouces- 
ter. The proposition was accepted by General Washington, commission- 
ers appointed, terms of surrender settled ; and the articles were signed on 
the nineteenth of October, 1781. 

On the afternoon of the day on which the capitulation was signed, the 
garrison marched out, and laid down their arms. The soldiers were sur- 
rendered to Washington, and the shipping in the harbor to the count de 
Grasse. The number of prisoners was over seven thousand. The Brit- 
ish lost, during the siege, between five and six hundred killed ; the Amer- 
icans about three hundred. The allied army consisted of about seven 
thousand American continental troops, five thousand French, and four 
thousand militia. The British force was only about half that of the allies ; 
and doubtless Lord Cornwallis would have abandoned Yorktown before 
its investment, had he not confidently expected reinforcements from New 
York. On the very day of the surrender of Cornwallis, Sir Henry Clinton 
left New York with seven thousand men, on board of a fleet, to reinforce 
the former; but on reaching the capes of the Chesapeake, he heard of the 
capture of Yorktown, and returned to New York. 

The surrender of the British army at Yorktown was the last important 
military operation of the war of the Revolution. It was generally consid- 
ered throughout the country as decisive of the contest in favor of the 
American cause. The year 1781 (says Ramsay) terminated, in all parts 
of the United States, in favor of the Americans. It began with weakness 
in Carolina, mutiny in New Jersey, and devastation in Virginia ; never- 
theless, at its close, the British were confined in their strongholds in or 
near New York, Charleston, and Savannah, and their whole army in Vir- 
ginia was captured. 

Washington endeavored, but in vain, to induce the count de Grasse to 
remain and assist in the reduction of Charleston ; he pleaded special en- 
gagements in the West Indies, whence he sailed immediately, leaving 
with Rochambeau the three thousand land-troops he brought with him. 
The French army cantoned during the winter at "Williamsburg, in Vir- 
ginia, whither the prisoners taken at Yorktown were marched ; and the 
main body of the American army returned to its late position in New Jer- 
sey and upon the Hudson. A detachment, under General St. Clair, was 
sent to the south, to strengthen the army of General Greene. The French 
army remained in Virginia until the summer of 1782, when they joined 
the Americans on the Hudson. On the cessation of hostilities, they em- 
barked from Boston for St. Domingo, in December, 1782. 

Vigilant measures were adopted by Washington for the campaign «f 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 73 

1782 ; but fortunately they were unnecessary, for active hostilities soon 
after ceased. In the southern states some skirmishes took place ; but 
these combats were chiefly partisan, carried on between whigs and 
tories. 

General Washington left Yorktown on the fifth of November, and hast- 
ened to Eltham, where his wife was attending the death-bed of her only 
son, Mr. Custis. He remained there a few days, to mingle his grief with 
the relatives of Mr. Custis, who died at the age of twenty-eight, leaving 
four young children, the two youngest of whom, a son and daughter, were 
adopted by the general, and they resided in his family till the end of his 
life. From Eltham he proceeded, by the way of Mount Vernon, to Phil- 
adelphia, receiving and answering various public addresses while on his 
journeJ^ He attended Congress the day after his arrival, and was greeted 
v.'ith a congratulatory address by the president of that body. By request, 
he remained some time in Philadelphia, to confer with Congress, and that 
he might enjoy some respite from the fatigues of war ; and joined the 
army in the following month of April, establishing his headquarters at 
Newburgh, on the Hudson river. 

Sir Guy Carleton, who was appointed to succeed Sir Henry Clinton in 
command of the British forces in America, arrived at New York early in 
May, 1782, bearing instructions to use all honorable means to bring about 
an accommodation with the United States. Both parties, therefore, ceased 
offensive warfare, and preparations were made to conclude terms of peace. 
On the twentieth of January, 1783, the preliminary treaty was signed be- 
tween France, Spain, and Great Britain, and on the third of September, 
of the same year, definitive treaties of all the powers were signed at one 
time. Congress ratified the one with America on the fourteenth of Janu- 
ary, 1784. 

On the anniversary of the battle of Lexington (April 19, 1783), a ces- 
sation of hostilities was proclaimed in the American army. On the third 
of November following, the army was disbanded by the orders of Con- 
gress, and the three cities occupied by British troops were evacuated — 
Savannah in July, New York in November, and Charleston in December, 
of the same year. 

The conclusion of peace, and the disbanding of the army, were events 
that reflecting men looked forward to with feelings of mingled joy and 
fear. Although the struggle had been brought to a triumphant issue by 
the United States, the country was impoverished. Much of the territory 
had been laid waste, commerce was nearly annihilated, a heavy burden 
of debt incurred by the war was weighing upon the people, and the circu- 
lating medium of paper-money had become so utterly worthless, that, by 
a decree of Congress, its functions were terminated. Added to this, an 
army of about ten thousand men were large creditors to Congress, their 
pay being greatly in arrears. It was manifest that Congress was unable 



74 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

to meet the claims of the soldiers, and could only recommend their case to 
their respective states. 

In the month of December, 1782, the officers in the army resolved to me- 
morialize Congress upon the subject of their grievances, proposing that the 
h;ilf-pay' for life should be commuted for a specific sum," and requesting 
government to give security for the fulfilment of its engagements. Con- 
gress had a stormy debate upon the subject ; but as nine states could not 
be obtained to vote the commutation proposition, the whole matter was 
dropped. This neglect of Congress to provide for their wants, produced 
a violent ferment among the officers, and through them the whole army 
became excited, and many minds among them determined upon coercive 
measures. In the midst of this ferment, an anonymous notice for a meet- 
ing of the general and field-officers, and a commissioned officer from each 
company, was circulated in the camp, accompanied with a letter, or ad- 
dress, complaining of their great hardships, and asserting that their coun- 
try, instead of relieving them, " trampled upon their rights, disdained their 
cries, and insulted their distresses." 

Fortunately, Washington was in the camp, and, with his usual prompt- 
ness and wisdom, called a general meeting of all the officers, in place of 
the irregular one. He condemned the tone of the letter, as implying a 
proposal either to desert their country or turn their arms against her, and 
then gave them the strongest pledges that he would use his utmost power 
to induce Congress to grant their demands. His address was a feeling 
one, and appealed directly to their patriotism and the nobler sentiments 
of the heart. When he had concluded, he immediately retired from the 
meeting. The deliberations of the officers were exceedingly brief, and 
resulted in the adoption of resolutions, thanking the commander-in-chief 
for the course he had pursued, and expressing their unabated attachment 
to him, and confidence in the justice and good faith of Congress. They 
then separated, and, with hearts glowing with warmer patriotism, resolved 
still longer to endure privations for their beloved country. Congress soon 
after made arrangements for granting the officers full pay for five years, 
instead of half-pay for life, and four months full pay for the army, in part 
payment of arrearages. But as there were no funds to make this payment 
immediately, it required all the address of Washington to induce the sol- 
diers to quietly return to their homes. 

On the 24th of March, 1783, a letter was received from Lafayette, 
announcing the signing of the preliminary treaty ; and Sir Guy Carleton 
gave official notice of the. same soon after. In June, Washington wrote a 
circular letter to the governors of the states, having for its theme the gen- 
eral welfare of the country, in which he exhibited great ability, and the 
most truthful features of genuine patriotism. During the summer, many 
of the troops went home on furlough, and the commander-in-chief was 
employed, with Congress, in arranging a peace-establishment, and making 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 75 

preparations for the evacuation of New York by the British troops. On 
the eighteenth of October, Congress issued a proclamation, discharging 
the troops from further service ; and thus, in effect, the continental army 
was disbanded. This proclamation was soon followed by General Wash- 
ington's Farewell Address to the Army, November 2, 1783; an address 
replete with sound wisdom and evidences of a virtuous attachment to the 
men and the cause with whom, and for which, he had labored for eight 
years. 

A small body of troops, who had enlisted for a definite period, were 
retained in the service, and assembled at West Point, under General Knox. 
Arrangements having been made with Carleton for the evacuation and 
surrender of New York on the twenty-fifth of November, these troops 
proceeded to the city, and, as soon as the British were embarked, they 
entered in triumphal procession, with Governor Clinton and other civil 
officers of the state. The ceremonies of the day were ended by a public 
entertainment given by Governor Clinton, and, throughout the whole trans- 
action, perfect order prevailed. 

On the fourth of Deceftiber, Washington bade a final adieu to his com- 
panions in arms. " At noon," says Marshall, " the principal officers of the 
army assembled at Francis's tavern, in Ne\if York, soon after which their 
beloved commander entered the room. His emotions were too strong to 
be concealed. Filling a glass, he turned to them and said : ' With a heart 
full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish 
that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones 
have been glorious and honorable.' Having drunk, he added: 'I can not 
come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged if each of you 
will come and take me by the hand.' General Knox, being nearest, turned 
to him. Washington, incapable of utterance, grasped his hand and em- 
braced him. In the same aff'ectionate manner, he took leave of each suc- 
ceeding officer. The tear of manly sensibility was in every eye, and not 
a word was articulated to interrupt the dignified silence, and the tender- 
ness of the scene. Leaving the room, he passed through the corps of 
light-infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a barge waited to convey 
him to Paulus's Hook. The whole company followed in mute and solemn 
procession, with dejected countenances, testifying feelings of delicious 
melancholy, which no language can describe. Having entered the barge, 
he turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu. 
They paid him the same affectionate compliment ; and, after the barge had 
left them, returned in the same solemn manner to the place where they 
had assembled." 

Washington then repaired to Annapolis, where Congress was in ses- 
sion, and, on the twenty-third of December, resigned into their hands the 
commission he had received from that body more than eight years before, 
appointing him commander-in-chief of the continental armies. In all the 



76 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 

towns and villages through which he passed, public and private demon- 
strations of joy and gratitude met him on every side ; and Congress re- 
solved that the resignation of his commission should be in a public audi- 
ence. A large concourse of distinguished persons were present ; and, at 
the close of a brief address,* Washington stepped forward and handed his 
commission to the president (General Mifflin), who made an affectionate 
and appropriate reply. He then " hastened with ineffable delight'' (to use 
his own words) to his seat at Mount Vernon, resolved there to pass the 
remainder of his days amid the pure and quiet pleasures of his domestic 
circle, enhanced a thousand-fold by the consideration that his country 
"was free and independent, and had taken a place among the nations of the 
earth.f 

The conclusion of the revolutionary war permitted Washington to return 
to those domestic scenes in which he delighted, and from which no views 
of ambition seem to have had the power to draw his affections. One of 
the greatest proofs of his patriotism was his refusal to receive any pecu- 
niary compensation for his services as commander-in-chief during the 
eight years in which he had served his country in that capacity. When 
he accepted the appointment, he announced to Congress his determination 
to decline payment for his services. He simply asked the reimbursement 
of his expenses, an exact account of which he kept and presented to the 
government, drawn up by his own hand at the close of the war.| 

In the month of September, 1784, Washington made a tour to the west- 
ern country, for the purpose of inspecting the lands he possessed beyond 
the Allegany mountains, and also of ascertaining the practicability of open- 
ing a canal between the head-waters of the rivers running eastward into 
the Atlantic, and those that flow westward to the Ohio. The extent of 
this journey was six hundred and eighty miles, which he travelled on 
horseback. He crossed the mountains, and examined the waters of the 
Monongahela river, with the special view of deciding the question in his 
own mind, whether the Potomac and James rivers could be connected by 
internal navigation with the western waters. He conversed on the sub- 
ject with such intelligent persons as he met, and kept a journal in which 
he recorded the results of his observations and inquiries. His thoughts 
had been turned to this enterprise before the Revolution ; and soon after 
returning from this western tour, in October, 1784, he communicated to 

• Washington closed his address with the following words : " I consider it an indispen- 
sable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life by commending the interests of 
our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superin- 
tendence of them into his holy keeping. Having now finished the work assigned me, I 
retire from the great theatre of action ; and bidding an afiectionate farewell to this august 
body, imder whose orders I have long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my 
leave of all employment of public life." 

f Lossing's War of Independence. 

:(: A fac-simile of this account of Washington's public expenditures has been published in 
a handsome volume, by Mr. Franklin Knight, of Washington city. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 77 

the governor of Virginia the fruits of his investigations in a letter, one of 
the ablest, most sagacious, and most important productions of his pen. 
The governor laid this letter before the legislature. It was the first sug- 
gestion of the great system of internal improvements which has since 
been pursued in the United States. 

The legislature of Virginia, after duly considering this letter of Wash- 
ington to the governor, appointed a commission for surveys, and organized 
two companies called the Potomac company, and the James river com- 
pany, for the purpose of carrying the plan into effect. 

It may here be added, that Washington was a zealous advocate for 
schools and literary institutions of every kind, and sought to promote them 
l)y his public addresses and by private benefactions. In this spirit he ac- 
cepted the chancellorship of William and Mary college, being earnestly 
solicited by the trustees.* 

Washington was not long allowed to remain in retirement. To remedy 
the distress into which the country had been thrown by the war, and to 
organize a permanent plan of national government, a national convention 
of delegates from the several states was called, and met at Philadelphia 
in 1787. Having been chosen one of the delegates from Virginia, Wash- 
ington was appointed to preside over the deliberations of the convention, 
and used his influence to cause the adoption of the constitution of the 
United States. 

By the unanimous voice of his fellow-citizens and of the electoral col- 
leges, he was called, in 1789, to act as president of the United States, 
and cheerfully lent his aid in organizing the new government. Amid all 
the difficulties which occurred at that period from differences of opinion 
among the people, many of whom were opposed to the measures proposed 
and adopted, the national government would probably have perished in its 
infancy, if it had not been for the wisdom and firmness of Washington. 
During his first term the French revolution commenced, which convulsed 
the whole political world, and which tried most severely his moderation 
and prudence. His conduct was a model of firm and dignified modera- 
tion. Insults were offered to his authority by the minister of the French 
republic (Mr. Genet) and his adherents, in official papers, in anonymous 
libels, and by tumultuous meetings. The law of nations was trampled 
under foot. No vexation could disturb the tranquillity of his mind, or 
make him deviate from the policy which his situation prescribed. During 
the whole course of that arduous struggle, his personal character gave 
that strength to a new magistracy which in other countries arises from 
ancient habits of obedience and respect. The authority of his virtue was 
more efficacious for the preservation of America, than the legal powers of 
his office. During this turbulent period he was unanimously re-elected 
to the presidency, in 1793, for another term, although he had expressed a 

* Sparks. 



78 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON 

wish to retire. The nation was then nearly equally divided into two great 
political parties, who united only on the name of Washington. Through- 
out the whole course of his second presidency the danger of the United 
States was great and iinminent. The spirit of change, indeed, shook all 
nations. But in other countries it had to encounter ancient and strong 
established power ; in America the government was new and weak ; the 
people had scarcely time to recover from the effects of a recent civil war. 
Washington employed the horror excited by the atrocities of the French 
revolution for the best purposes ; to preserve the internal quiet of his 
country ; to assert the dignity and to maintain the rights of the common- 
wealth which he governed, against foreign enemies. He avoided war, 
without incurring the imputation of pusillanimity. He cherished the de-* 
testation of the best portion of his countrymen for anarchy, without weak- 
ening the spirit of liberty ; and he maintained the authority of the govern- 
ment without infringing on the rights of the states, or abridging the pri\'- 
ileges of the people. He raised no hopes that he did not gratify ; he 
made no promises that he did not fulfil ; he exacted proper respect due 
to the high office he held, and rendered to others every courtesy belong- 
ing to his high station. 

Having determined to retire from the presidency at the expiration of 
his second term, in March, 1797, he issued in September, 1796, a fare- 
well address to the people of the United States, which will be found ia 
this volume, and which will remain as a permanent legacy to his country- 
men through future generations, for its sentiments of patriotism, and sound 
maxims of political sagacity. He remained at the seat of government 
until the inauguration of his successor, Mr. Adams, which occasion he 
honored with his presence, and immediately retired to Mount Vernon to 
pass the remainder of his days in quiet retirement ; but when, in 1798, 
the United States armed by sea and land, in consequence of their difficul- 
ties with France, he consented to act as lieutenant-general of the army ; 
but was never afterward called upon to take the field, although he bore 
the commission until his death. On Thursday, the twelfth of December, 
1799, he was seized with an inflammation in his throat, which became 
considerably worse the next day, and which terminated his life on Satur- 
day, the fourteenth of the same month, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 

" No man," says Colonel Knapp, in his biographical sketch, " was ever 
mourned so widely and sincerely as Washington. Throughout the United 
States, eulogies were pronounced upon his character, sermons were 
preached, or some mark of respect paid to his memory. It was not speak- 
inor extravagantly to say that a nation was in tears at his death. There 
have been popular men, who were great in their day and generation, but 
whose fame soon passed away. It is not so with the fame of Washing- 
ton, it grows brighter by years. The writings of Washington (a portion 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON. 79 

only of which comprise elev^en octavo volumes) show that he had a clear, 
lucid mind, and will be read with pleasure for ages to come." 

" General Washington," says Judge Marshall, " was rather above the 
common size ; his frame was robust, and his constitution vigorous — capa- 
ble of enduring great fatigue, and requiring a considerable degree of exer- 
cise for the preservation of his health. His exterior created in the be- 
holder the idea of strength united with manly gracefulness. 

" His manners were rather reserved than free, though they partook 
nothing of that dryness and sternness which accompany reserve when 
carried to an extreme ; and on all proper occasions he could relax suffi- 
ciently to show how highly he was gratified by the charms of conversa- 
tion, and the pleasures of society. His person and whole deportment 
exhibited an unaffected and indescribable dignity, unmingled with haugh- 
tiness, of which all who approached him were sensible ; and the attach- 
ment of those who possessed his friendship, and enjoyed his intimacy, 
was ardent, but always respectful. 

" His temper was humane, benevolent, and conciliatory ; but there was 
a quickness in his sensibility to anything apparently offensive, which ex- 
perience had taught him to watch and to correct. 

" In the management of his private affairs he exhibited an exact yet lib- 
eral economy. His funds were not prodigally wasted on capricious and 
ill-examined schemes, nor refused to beneficial though costly improve- 
ments. They remained, therefore, competent to that extensive establish- 
ment which his reputation, added to an hospitable temper, had in some 
measure imposed upon him, and to those donations which real distress has 
a right to claim from opulence. 

" In his civil administration, as in his military career, were exhibited 
ample and repeated proofs of that practical good sense, of that sound judg- 
ment which is perhaps the most rare, and is certainly the most valuable 
quality of the human mind. 

" In speculation he was a real republican, devoted to the constitution of 
his country, and to that system of equal political rights on which it is 
founded. But between a balanced republic and a democracy, the differ- 
ence is like that between order and chaos. Real liberty, he thought, was 
to be preserved only by preserving the authority of the laws, and main- 
taining the energy of government." 



\ 



Washington's farewell address. 81 

FAREWELL- ADDRESS. 
September 17, 1796. 

Friends and Fellow- Citizens : — 

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive 
government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actu- 
ally arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the per- 
son who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to -me proper, 
especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public 
voice, that I should now apprize you of the resolution I have formed, to 
decline being considered among the number of those out of whom the 
choice is to be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this 
resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considera- 
tions appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his coun- 
try ; and that, in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my / 
situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your / 
future interest, no deficiency of respect for your past kindness, but am / 
supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which 
your suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of in- 
clination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be 
your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in 
my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disre- 
gard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. 
The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had 
even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you ; but mature 
reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of affairs with foreign 
nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, 
impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your con- 
cerns, external as Avell as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of incli- 
nation incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety ; and am per- 
suaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the 
present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove of my de- 
termination to retire. 

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were 
explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will 
only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed toward the organi- 
zation and administration of the government the best exertions of which a 
very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of 
the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps 
still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence 
of myself ; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me 
more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it 
will be welcome. Satisfied that, if any circumstances have given pecu- 
liar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to 
believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political 
scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment which is to terminate the career of 
my political life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep ac- 
knowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved coun- 
6 



82 Washington's farewell address. 

try for the many honors it has conferred upon me ; still more for the stead- 
fast confidence with which it has supported me, and for the opportunities 1 
have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment by services 
faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If 
benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be 
remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, 
that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direc- 
tion, were liable to mislead — amid appearances sometimes dubious — vicis- 
situdes of fortune often discouraging — in situations in which not unfre- 
quently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism — the 
constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guar- 
anty of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated 
with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement 
to unceasing wishes that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens 
of its beneficence — that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual 
— that the free constitution which is the work of your hands may be sa- 
credly maintained — that its administration in every department may be 
stamped with wisdom and virtue — that, in fine, the happiness of the peo- 
ple of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete 
by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will 
acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the aflfec- / 
tion, and adoption, of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. >s. 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare which 
can not end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to 
that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your 
solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some 
sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable 
observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of j 
your felicity as a people. These will be oftered to you with the more | 
freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a j 
parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his coun- j 
sel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent recep- ! 
tion of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. | 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of our hearts, / 
no recommendation of mine is necessary to foitify or confirm the attach- / 
ment. ^ 

The unity of government which constitutes you one people, is also now 
dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your 
real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace > 
abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you 
so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that from different causes, 
and from difierent quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices em- , 
ployed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth — as this is i 
the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal { 
and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often 
covertly and insidiously) directed — it is of infinite moment that you should 
properly estimate the immense value of your national imion to your col- 
lective and individual happiness ; that you should cherish a cordial, habit- 
ual, and immovable attachment to it ; accustoming yourselves to think and to 
speak of it as a palladium of your political safety and prosperity ; watch- 
ing for its preservation with jealous anxiety ; discountenancing whatever 
may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned ; and 
indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate 



Washington's farewell address. 83 

any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties 
which now link together the various parts. '^ . 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citi- \ 
zens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to 
concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to 
you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriot- 
ism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With i 
slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, | 
and political principles. You have, in a common cause, fought and tri- | 
umphed together. The independence and liberty you possess are the / 
work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, J 
and success. ^,-^ 

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves 
to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more 
immediately to your interest. Here, every portion of our country finds 
the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the 
union of the whole. 

The north, in an unrestrained intercourse with the south, protected by 
the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the 
latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, 
and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The south, in the same 
intercourse, benefiting by the same agency of the north, sees its agricul- 
ture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own chan- 
nels the seamen of the north, it finds its particular navigation invigorated ; 
and while it contributes in different ways to nourish and increase the gen- 
eral mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a 
maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The east, in like 
intercourse with the west, in the progressive improvement of interior com- 
munications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent 
for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. 
The west derives from the east supplies requisite to its growth and com- 
fort ; and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of neces- 
sity owe the secure enjoyment of the indispensable outlets for its own 
productions to the weight, influence, and future maritime strength of the 
Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of in- 
terest, as one nation. Any other tenure by which the west can hold this 
essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or 
from an apostate and unnatural connexion with any foreign power, must 
be intrinsically precarious. 

While, then, every part of our coimtry thus feels an immediate and par- 
ticular interest in union, all the parts combined can not fail to find in the 
united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, pro- 
portionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interrup- 
tion of their peace by foreign nations, and, what is of inestimable value, 
they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars be- 
tween themselves which so frequently aflhct neighboring countries not 
tied together by the same government, which their own rivalships alone 
would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, at- 
tachments, and intrigues, would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, 
they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments 
which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and 
which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In 
this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of 



84 Washington's farewell address. 

your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the pres- 
ervation of the other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting 
and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the union as a primary 
object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common govern- 
ment can embrace so large a sphere 1 Let experience solve it. To lis- 
ten to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized 
to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency 
of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue 
of the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With 
such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our 
country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, 
there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any 
quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our union, it occurs as^ 
matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for 
characterizing parties by geographical discriminations — northern and 
southern, Atlantic and western ; whence designing men may endeavor to 
excite a belief that there is a real diff'erence of local interests and views. 
One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular dis- ( 
tricts is, to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You | 
can not shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burn- i 
ings which spring from these misrepresentations. They tend to render / 
alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal afy' 
fection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately had a~useFSl 
lesson on this head. Tliey have seen in the negotiation by the executive, 
and in the unanimous ratification by the senate, of the treaty with Spain, 
and in the universal sr.tisfaction at that event throughout the United States, 
a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among 
them of a policy in the general government and in the Atlantic states un- 
friendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi. They have been 
witnesses to the formation of two treaties — that with Great Britain and 
that with Spain — which secure to them everything they could desire, in 
respect to our foreign relations, toward confirming their prosperity. Will 
it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on 
the union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth be 
deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from 
their brethren and connect them with aliens ? 

To the efficacy and permanency of your union, a government for the ^ 
whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts ^ 
can be an adequate substitute. They must inevitably experience the in- | 
fractions and interruptions wliich alliances in all times have experienced. ] 
Sensible of this momentous truth, yoix have improved upon your first essay 
by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than 
your lornier for an intimate union and for the efficacious management of 
your common concerns. This government, the offspring of your own 
choice, uninffuenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and ma- 
ture deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its 
powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself provis- 
ion for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your 
support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence 
in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true < 
liberty. The basis of our political system is, the right of the people to / 



Washington's farewell address. 85 

make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution 
which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act 
of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of 
the power and the right of the people to establish government, presupposes 
the duty of every individual to obey the established government. y" 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and asso- 
ciations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, 
control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberations and action of the con- 
stituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of 
fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction ; to give it an artificial 
and extraordinary force ; to put in the place of the delegated will of the 
nation the will of party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority 
of the community ; and according to the alternate triumphs of different j 
parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted I 
and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent 1 
and wholesome plans, digested by common councils, and modified by / 
mutual interests. / 

However combinations or associations of the above description may now 
and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and 
things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprin- 
cipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to 
usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterward the 
very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. 

Toward the preservation of your government and the permanency of 
your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discoun- 
tenance irregular opposition to its acknowledged authority, but also that 
you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however 
specious the pretext. One method of assault may be to effect in the forms 
of the constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, 
and thus to undermine what can not be directly overthrown. In all the 
changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are 
at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other 
human institutions ; that experience is the surest standard by which to 
test the real tendency of the existing constitutions of a country ; that fa- 
cility in changes upon the credit of mere hj^othesis and opinion exposes 
to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion ; 
and remember especially, that from the efficient management of your 
common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as 
much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indis- 
pensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers 
properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little 
else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the 
enterprises of faction, to confine each member of society within the limits 
prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil 
enjoyment of the rights of person and property. 

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with 
particular reference to the founding of them upon geographical discrimina- 
tions. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in 
the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party 
generally. 

This spirit, imfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root 
in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different 
shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed ; 



86 Washington's farewell address. 

but in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is 
truly their worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the 
spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and 
countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful 
despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent des- 
potism. The disorders and miseries which result, gradually incline the 
minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an in- 
dividual ; and sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more 
able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the 
purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of the public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, which neverthe- 
less ought not to be entirely out of sight, the common and continual mis- 
chiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty 
of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public 
administration. It agitates the community with ill-fovmded jealousies and 
false alarms ; kindles the animosity of one part against another ; foments 
occasional riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence 
and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself 
through the channels of party passion. Thus the policy and will of one 
country are subjected to the policy and will of another. 

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon \ 
the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of | 
liberty. This, wathin certain limits, is probably true ; and in governments 1 
of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with / 
favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of popular character, in gov-/ 
ernments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From the 
natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit 
for every salutary purpose ; and there being constant danger of excess, 
the eflbrt ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. 
A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its 
bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country 
should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration to con-, 
fine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding, in 
the exercise of the powers of one department, to encroach upon another. 
The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the de- 
partments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a 
real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to 
abuse it which predominate in the human heart, is suflicient to satisfy us 
of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the '; 
exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into difierent i 
depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against ', 
invasions of the other, has been evinced by experiments ancient and ,' 
modern — some of them in our country, and under our own eyes. To I 
preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opin- i 
ion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional pow- ' 
ers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the ; 
way in which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by 
usurpation ; for though this in one instance may be the instrument of good, / 
it is the customary weapon by wliich free governments are destroyed./ 



"Washington's farewell address. 87 

The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any) 
partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, re- 
ligion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man 
claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pil- 
lars of human happiness — these firmest props of the duties of men and 
citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to re- 
spect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexion 
with private and public felicity. Let it be simply asked, where is the 
security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obli- 
gation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts 
of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality 
can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the 
influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and 
experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in 
exclusion of religious principles. 

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of 
popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to 
every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can 
look with indifference upon attempts *o shake the foundation of the fabric ? 
Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the 
general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a gov- 
ernment gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion 
should be enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public 
credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, 
avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering, also, 
that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much 
greater disbursements to repel it ; avoiding likewise the accumulation of 
debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exer- 
tions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars have 
occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which 
we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to 
your representatives ; but it is necessary that public opinion should co- 
operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essen- 
tial you should practically bear in mind that toward the payment of debts 
there must be revenue ; that to have revenue there must be taxes ; that 
no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and 
unpleasant ; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selec- 
tion of the proper objects, which is always a choice of difficulties, ought 
to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the ] 
government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures 
for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at anytime dictate, j 

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace | 
and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct ; and 
can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it ? It will be worthy i 
of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to ' 
mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always ' 
guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that in 
the course of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly re- 
pay any temporary advantages that might be lost by a steady adherence- i 
to it ? Can it be that Providence has connected the permanent felicity of j 
a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is reconmiended by j 



88 WASHINGTON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas ! it is rendered im- ' 
possible by its vices. J 

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that per- \ 
manent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate at- ) 
tacliments for others, should be excluded ; and that in the place of them, J 
just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated^ 'The natibrT 
which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness, 
is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, 
either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. 
Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer 
insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty 
and intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. 

Hence, frequent collisions and obstinate, envenomed, and bloody con- 
tests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels 
to war the government contrary to the best calculations of policy. The 
government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts 
through passion what reason would reject. At other times, it makes the 
animosity of the nation subservient to the projects of hostility, instigated by 
pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace 
often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations has been the victim. 

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces 
a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion 
of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest 
exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former 
into a participation in the quarrels and the wars of the latter without ade- 
quate inducements or justification. It leads, also, to concessions to the 
favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which are apt doubly to injure 
the nation making the concessions, by lumecessarily parting with what 
ought to have beeji retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a dis- 
position to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are with- 
held ; and it gives to ambitious, corrupt, or deluded citizens, who devote 
themselves to the favorite nation, facility to betray or sacrifice the interests 
of their own country without odium, sometimes, even with popularity, gild- 
ing with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation to a commend- 
able deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the 
base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments 
are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. 
How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, 
to practise the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or 
awe the public councils ! Such an attachment of a small or weak nation 
toward a great and powerful one, dooms the former to be the satellite of 
the latter. Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you 
to believe me, fellow-citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be 
constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence 
is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jeal- 
ousy, to be useful, must be impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the 
very influence to be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive", 
partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike for another, cause j 
those wliom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil j 
and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who 
may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and 
odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the 
people to surrender their interests. 



Washington's farewell address. 89 

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in ex- 
tendino- our commercial relations, to have with them as little political con- 
nexion as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let 
them be fulfilled with perfect good faith^.'H'ere let us stop. ■ - ....- ' 

Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none or a very 
remote relation. Hence, she must be engaged in frequent controversies, 
the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, 
therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in 
the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and 
collisions of her friendships or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a 
different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, 
the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external 
annoyance ; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutral- 
ity we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected ; when 
belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, 
will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation ; when we may choose 
peace or war as our interests, guided by justice, shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? Why quit our 
own to stand on foreign ground ? Why, by interweaving our destiny with 
that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils 
of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice ? 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent aUiances with any por- 
tion of the foreign world, so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it ; ; 
for let me not be understood as capable of patronising infidelity to existing \ 
engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to pri- j 
vate affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat, therefore, j 
let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But in my 
opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a 
respectable defensive posture, w^e may safely trust to temporary alliances 
for extraordinary emergencies. 

Harmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations are recommended by 
policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should 
hold an equal and impartial hand ; neither seeking nor granting exclusive 
favors or preferences ; consulting the natural course of things ; diffusing 
and diversifying by gentle means the stream of commerce, but forcing 
nothing ; establishing with powers so disposed (in order to give trade a 
stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, to enable the govern- 
ment to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that 
present circumstances and natural opinion will permit, but temporary and 
liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied as experience and cir- 
cumstances shall dictate ; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one 
nation to look for disinterested favors from another — that it must pay with 
a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that char- 
acter — that by such acceptance it may place itself in the condition of hav- 
ing given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached Avith 
ingratitude for not having given more. There can be no greater error than 
to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illu- 
sion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old affectionate 
friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I 
could wish — that they will control the usual current of the passions, or 



90 Washington's farewell address. 

prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the 
destiny of nations. But if I may even flatter myseh' that they may be 
productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good — that they may 
now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against 
the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pre- 
tended patriotism — this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude 
for your welfare by which they have been dictated. -^ 

How far in the discharge of my oflicial duties I have been guided by 
the principles which have been delineated, the public records and the 
other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To 
myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least 
believed myself to be guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the 
22d of April, 1793, is the index to my plan. Sanctioned by your ap- 
proving voice, and by that of your representatives in both houses of Con- 
gress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced 
by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could 
obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances 
of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to 
take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should de- 
pend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perseverance, and firmness. 

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is 
not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe, that ac- 
cording to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being de- 
nied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any- 
thing more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on 
every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the 
relations of peace and amity toward other nations. 

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be re- 
ferred to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant 
motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and 
mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to 
that degree of strength and constancy w4iich it is necessary to give it, 
humanly speaking, the command of its own fortune. 

Though in reviewing the incidents of ray administration I am uncon- 
scious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects 
not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. What- 
ever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate 
the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope 
that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that, 
after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright 
zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as 
myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. 

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that 
fervent love toward it which is so natural to a man who views in it the 
native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I an- 
ticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which I promise myself 
to realize without alloy the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the midst of 
my fellow-citizens the benign influence of good laws under a free gov- 
ernment — the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as 
I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OF 



JOHN ADAMS, 



John Adams, the second president of the United States, was bom on the 
19th of October (old style), 1735, in that part of the town of Braintree, in Mas- 
sachusetts (near Boston) which has since been incorporated by the name 
of Quincy. He was the fourth in descent from Henry Adams, who fled 
from persecution in Devonshire, England, and settled in Massachusetts, 
about the year 1630. Another of the ancestors of Mr. Adams was John 
Alden, one of the pilgrim founders of the Plymouth colony in 1620. Re- 
ceiving his early education in his native town, John Adams, in 1751, was 
admitted a member of Harvard college, at Cambridge, where he graduated 
in regular course, four years afterward. On leaving college he went to 
Worcester, for the purpose of studying law, and at the same time to sup- 
port himself, according to the usage at that time in New England, by teaching 
in the grammar-school of that town. He studied law with James Putnam, 
a barrister of eminence, by whom he was afterward introduced to the ac- 
quaintance of Jeremy Gridley, then attorney-general of the province, who 
proposed him to the court for admission to the bar of Suffolk county, in 
1758, and gave him access to his library, which was then one of the best 
in America, 

Mr. Adams commenced the practice of his profession in his native town, 
and, by travelling the circuits with the court, became well known in that 
part of the country. In 1766, by the advice of Mr. Gridley, he removed 
to Boston, where he soon distinguished himself at the bar, by his superior 
talents as counsel and advocate. At an earlier period of his life, his 
thoughts had begun to turn on general politics, and the prospects of 
his country engaged his attention. Soon after leaving college, he wrote 
a letter to a friend, dated at Worcester, the 12th of October, 1755, 
which evinces so remarkable a foresight that it is fortunate it has been 
preserved. We make the following extracts : " Soon after the reforma- 
tion, a few people came over into this new world, for conscience' sake. 



92 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAMS, 

Perhaps this apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of em- 
pire into America. It looks likely to me, if we can remove the turbulent 
Gallics, our people, according to the exactest computation, will, in an- 
other century, become more numerous than England herself. The only 
way to keep us from setting up for ourselves, is to disunite us. Divide et 
impera. Keep us in distinct colonies, and then some great men in each 
colony, desiring the monarchy of the whole, will destroy each other's 
influence, and keep the country in equilibrio. Be not surprised that 
I am turned politician ; the whole town is immersed in politics. I sit and 
hear, and, after being led through a maze of sage observations, I some- 
times retire and, by laying things together, form some reflections pleasing 
to myself. The produce of one of these reveries you have read above." 
Mr. Webster observes : " It is remarkable that the author of this prognos- 
tication should live to see fulfilled to the letter what could have seemed to 
others, at the time, but the extravagance of youthful fancy. His earliest 
political feelings were thus strongly American, and from this ardent at- 
tachment to his native soil he never departed." 

In 1764, he married Abigail Smith, daughter of Rev. William Smith, of 
Weymouth, and grand-daughter of Colonel Quincy, a lady of uncommon 
endowments and excellent education. He had previously imbibed a 
prejudice against the prevailing religious opinions of New England, and 
became attached to speculations hostile to those opinions. Nor were his 
views afterward changed. In his religious sentiments he accorded with 
Doctor Bancroft, a unitarian minister of Worcester, of whose printed ser- 
mons he expressed his high approbation. In 1765, Mr. Adams published 
an essay on canon and feudal law, the object of which was to show the 
conspiracy between church and state for the purpose of oppressing the 
people. 

In 1770, he was chosen a representative, from the town of Boston, in 
the legislature of Massachusetts. The same year he was one of the 
counsel who defended Captain Preston, and the British soldiers who fired at 
his order, upon the inhabitants of Boston. Captain Preston was acquitted, 
and Mr. Adams lost no favor with his fellow-citizens by engaging in this 
trial. As a rriember of the legislature, he opposed the royal governor, 
Hutchinson, in his measures, and also wrote against the British govern- 
ment in the newspapers. In 1774, he was elected a member of the Mas- 
sachusetts council, and negatived by Governor Gage. In this and the 
next year, he wrote on the whig side the numbers called " Nov Anglus," 
in reply to essays, signed " Massachusitensis," in favor of the British gov- 
ernment, by Sewall, the attorney-general. The same year he was ap- 
pointed a member of the continental congress, from Massachusetts, and in 
that body, which met at Philadelphia, he became one of the most efficient 
and able advocates of liberty. In the Congress which met in May, 1775, 
he again took his seat, having been reappointed as a delegate. In 1775 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAMS. 93 

he seconded the nomination of Washington as commander-in-chief of the 
array, and in July, 1776, he was the adviser and great supporter of the 
declaration of independence. It was reported by a committee composed 
of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, 
and Robert R. Livingston. During the same year, he, with Doctor Frank- 
lin and Edward Rutledge, was deputed to treat with Lord Howe for the 
pacification of the colonies. He declined, at this time, the offer of the 
office of chief justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts. 

In December, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a commissioner to the 
court of France, in place of Silas Deane, who was recalled. He em- 
barked in the frigate Boston, in February, 1778. On his arrival in France 
he found a treaty of amity and commerce, also a treaty of alliance, had 
been already signed, and, after Doctor Franklin received from Congress 
the appointment of minister plenipotentiary, Mr. Adams returned to the 
United States, in the summer of 1779. 

Immediately after his return he was chosen a member of the Massachu- 
setts convention for framing the new state constitution. He accepted a 
seat in that boay, and his plan for a constitution being reported by a com- 
mittee of which he was a member, was, in most of its important features, 
adopted by the convention. 

During the time when he was attending to the business of the Massa- 
chusetts convention. Congress resolved to appoint a minister plenipoten- 
tiary for negotiating a treaty of peace with. Great Britain. On the 29th of 
September, 1779, Mr. Adams received this appointment, and sailed in the 
French frigate La Sensible, in November. He landed at Ferrol, in Spain, 
and arrived in Paris in February, 1780. In August he repaired to Am- 
sterdam, having previously been instructed to procure loans in Holland, 
and soon afterward receiving power to negotiate a treaty of amity and 
commerce. In 1782 he effected a loan for eight millions of guilders, also 
negotiated a very favorable treaty with Holland, which nation recognised 
the United States as free, sovereign, and independent. 

In 1781 Mr. Adams was associated by Congress with Franklin, Jay, 
Laurens, and Jefferson, in a commission for concluding treaties of peace 
with the several European powers ; and in 1 783 he was associated with 
Franklin and Jay for the purpose of negotiating a commercial treaty with 
Great Britain. The definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain was 
signed on the 3d of September, 1783, by Messrs. Adams, Franklin, and 
Jay ; the provisional treaty had been signed by the same commissioners, 
with Mr. Laurens, on the 30th of November, 1782. 

During part of the year 1784, Mr. Adams remained in Holland, and 
returned to France, where he joined his associates appointed by Congress 
to negotiate commercial treaties with foreign nations. An extensive plan 
of operations for commercial conventions was formed, but not carried out. 

In January, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. Adams minister to represent 



94 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAMS. 

the United States at the court of Great Britain, an office at that time 
deemed peculiarly delicate and interesting. Although his reception by 
the king was favorable and courteous, Mr. Adams found the British min- 
istry cold and unfriendly toward the United States, and he was, therefore, 
unable to negotiate a commercial treaty with that nation. In other re- 
spects, however, he rendered valuable services to his country, and, be- 
sides assisting in forming treaties with Prussia and Morocco, he wrote, 
while in Europe, an elaborate and eloquent defence of the forms of gov- 
ernment established in the United States, in reply to strictures advanced 
by Mr. Turgot, the Abbe de Mably, Dr. Price, and other European writers. 
Immediately after the publication of this work, Mr. Adams asked permis- 
sion to resign and return, and in June, 1788, he arrived in his native 
land, after an absence of between eight and nine years. 

The services of Mr. Adams in the cause of his country, at home and 
abroad, during the period to which we have referred, it is believed, were 
not excelled by those of any other of the patriots of the revolution. In the 
language of one of his eulogists (Mr. J. E. Sprague, of Massachusetts): 
" Not a hundred men in the country could have been acquSinted with any 
part of the labors of Mr. Adams — they appeared anonymously, or under 
assumed titles ; they were concealed in the secret conclaves of Congress, 
or the more secret cabinets of princes. Such services are never known 
to the public ; or, if known, only in history, when the actors of the day 
have passed from the stage, and the motives for longer concealment cease 
to exist. As we ascend the mount of history, and rise above the vapors 
of party prejudice, we shall all acknowledge that we owe our independ- 
ence more to John Adams than to any other created being, and that he 
was the Great Leader of the American Revolution." 

When permission was given him to return from Europe, the continental 
Congress adopted the following resolution : " Resolved, that Congress en- 
tertain a high sense of the services which Mr. Adams has rendered to the 
United States, in the execution of the various important trusts which they 
have from time to time committed to him ; and that the thanks of Congress be 
presented to him for the patriotism, perseverance, integrity, and diligence, 
with which he has ably and faithfully served his country." Such was the 
testimonial of his country, expressed through the national councils, at the 
termination of his revolutionary and diplomatic career. 

During the absence of Mr. Adams in Europe, the constitution of the 
United States had been formed and adopted. He highly approved of its 
provisions, and on his return, when it was about to go into operation, he 
was selected by the friends of the constitution to be placed on the ticket 
with Washington as a candidate for one of the two highest offices in the 
gift of the people. He was consequently elected vice-president, and on 
the assembling of the senate, he took his seat as president of that body, at 
New York, in April, 1789. Having been re-elected to that office in 1792. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAMS. 95 

he held it, and presided in the senate, with great dignity, during the en- 
tire period of Washington's administration, whose confidence he enjoyed, 
and by whom he was consulted on important questions. In his valedic- 
tory address to the senate, he remarks : " It is a recollection of which 
nothing can ever deprive me, and it will be a source of comfort to me 
through the remainder of my life, that on the one hand, I have for eight 
years held the second situation under our constitution, in perfect and unin- 
terrupted harmony with the first, without envy in the one, or jealousy in 
the other, so, on the other hand, I have never had the smallest misunder- 
standing with any member of the senate." 

In 1790, Mr. Adams wrote his celebrated "Discourses on Davila ;" 
they were anonymously published, at first, in the Gazette of the United 
States, of Philadelphia, in a series of numbers ; they may be considered 
as a sequel to his " Defence of the American Constitutions." He was a 
decided friend and patron of literature and the arts, and while in Europe, 
having obtained much information on the subject of public institutions, he 
contributed largely to the advancement of establishments in his native 
state, for the encouragement of arts, sciences, and letters. 

On the retirement of General Washington from the presidency of the 
United States, Mr. Adams was elected his successor, after a close and 
spirited contest with two rivals for that high office ; Mr. Jefferson being 
supported by the democratic or republican party, while a portion of the 
federal party preferred Mr. Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, who 
was placed on the ticket with Mr. Adams. The result, as we have sta- 
ted, in our notice of Washington's administration, was the election of Mr. 
Adams as president, and Mr. Jefferson as vice-president, and in March, 
1797, they entered upon their duties in those offices. 

On meeting the senate, as their presiding officer, Mr. Jefferson re- 
marked, that the duties of the chief magistracy had been "justly con- 
fided to the eminent character who preceded him, whose talents and integ- 
rity," he added, " have been known and revered by me through a long 
term of years ; have been the foundation of a cordial and uninterrupted 
friendship between us ; and I devoutly pray that he may be long preserved 
for the government, the happiness, and prosperity of our country." The 
senate adopted an address taking leave of Mr. Adams, after he had presi- 
ded over them for eight years, with the strongest expressions of respect 
and attachment. 

The administration of Mr. Adams we shall have occasion to notice in 
another place. He came to the presidency in a stormy time. In the lan- 
guage of Colonel Knapp, "the French revolution had just reached its 
highest point of settled delirium, after some of the paroxysms of its fury 
had passed away. The people of the United States took sides, some ap- 
proving, others deprecating, the course pursued by France. Mr. Adams 
wished to preserve a neutrality, but found this quite impossible. A navy 



96 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAMS. 

was raised, with surprising promptitude, to prevent insolence, and to chas- 
tise aggression. It had the desired effect, and France was taught that 
the Americans were friends in peace, but were not fearful of war when it 
could not be averted. When the historian shall come to this page of our 
history, he will do justice to the sagacity, to the spirit, and to the integ- 
rity of Mr. Adams, and will find that he had more reasons, and good ones, 
for his conduct, than his friends or enemies ever gave him.*' 

In his course of public policy, when war with J'^rance was expected, 
he was encouraged by addresses from all quarters, and by the approving 
voice of Washington. He, however, gave dissatisfaction to many of his 
own political party, in his final attempts to conciliate France, and in his 
removal of two members of his cabinet, toward the close of his adminis- 
tration. Under these circumstances, notwithstanding Mr. Adams was the 
candidate of the federal party for re-election as president, and received 
their faithful support, it is not strange that his opponents, with the advan- 
tage in their favor of the superior popularity of Mr. Jefferson, succeeded 
in defeating him. For this event, the correspondence of Mr. Adams 
shows that he was prepared, and he left the arduous duties of chief mag- 
istrate probably with less of disappointment than his enemies had ex- 
pected. 

Immediately after Mr. Jefferson had succeeded to the presidency, m 
1801, Mr. Adams retired to his estate at Quincy, in Massachusetts, and 
passed the remainder of his days in literary and scientific leisure, though 
occasionally addressing various communications to the public. He gave 
his support generally to the administration of Mr. Jefferson, and the 
friendship between these distinguished men was revived by a corre- 
spondence, and continued for several years previous to their death. When 
the disputes with Great Britain eventuated in war, Mr. Adams avowed his 
approbation of that measure, and in 1815 he saw the second treaty of 
peace concluded with that nation, by a commission of which his son was 
at the head, as he had been himself in that commission which formed the 
treaty of 1783. 

In 1816, the republican party in Massachusetts, which had once ve- 
hemently opposed him as president of the United States, paid him the 
compliment of placing his name at the head of their list of presidential 
electors. In 1820, he was chosen a member of the state convention to 
revise the constitution of Massachusetts, which body unanimously soli- 
cited him to act as their president. This he declined, on account of his 
age, but he was complimented by a vote of the convention acknowledging 
his great services, for a period of more than half a century, in the cause 
of his country and of mankind. 

In 1818, he had lost, by her death, his amiable and faithful consort, 
who had for so many years shared his anxieties and fortunes. His only 
daughter, Mrs, Smith, died in 1813. These ladies were distinguished 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAMS. 97 

through life as among the most excellent and talented of American fe- 
males. The heroic spirit of Mrs. Adams is shown in a striking light in 
a letter from her to a friend in London, dated in 1777 ; we give the fol- 
lowing extract : " Heaven is our witness, that we do not rejoice in the 
effusion of blood ; but having forced us to draw the sword, we are deter- 
mined never to sheathe it slaves of Britain. Our cause is, I trust, the 
cause of truth and justice, and will finally prevail, though the combined 
force of earth and hell shall rise against them. To this cause I have sac- 
rificed much of my own personal happiness, by giving up to the councils 
of America one of my nearest connexions, and living for more than three 
years in a state of Avidowhood." 

The last years of the long life of Mr. Adams were peaceful and tran- 
quil. His mansion was always the abode of elegant hospitality, and he 
was occasionally enlivened by visits from his distinguished son, who, in 

1825, he had the singular felicity of seeing elevated to the office of pres- 
ident of the United States. At length, having lived to a good old age, he 
expired, surrounded by his affectionate relatives, on the fourth of July, 

1826, the fiftieth anniversary of that independence which he had done so 
much to achieve. A short time before his death, being asked to suggest a 
toast for the customary celebration, he replied, " I will give you — Inde- 
pendence for ever." It is known that Mr. Jefferson died on the same 
day — a most remarkable dispensation of Providence. A similar coinci- 
dence occurred five years afterward, in the death of President Monroe, 
July 4, 1831. 

Mr. Adams was of middle stature, and full person, and when elected 
president, he was bald on the top of his head. His countenance beamed 
with intelligence, and moral as well as physical courage. His walk was 
firm and dignified, to a late period of his life. His manner was slow and 
deliberate, unless he was excited, and when this happened, he expressed 
himself with great energy. He was ever a man of purest morals, and is 
said to have been a firm believer in Christianity, not from habit and ex- 
ample, but from diligent investigation of its proofs. 

To use the words of a political friend of his (Mr. Sullivan) : " He had 
an uncompromising regard for his own opinion ; and seemed to have sup- 
posed that his opinions could not be corrected by those of other men, nor 
bettered by any comparison. It is not improbable that Mr. Adams was 
impatient in finding how much the more easily understood services of 
military men were appreciated, than Avere the secluded, though no less 
important ones, of diplomatic agency and cabinet council. So made up, 
from natural propensities, and from the circumstances of his life, Mr. 
Adams came to the presidency at the time when more forbearance and 
discretion were required than he is supposed to have had. He seems 
to have been deficient in the rare excellence of attempting to see him- 
self as others saw him ; and he ventured to act as though everybody 



98 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAMS. 

saw as he saw himself. He considered only what was right in his 
own view ; and that was to be carried by main force, whatever were the 
obstacles." 

But whatever may be the judgment of posterity as to his merits as a 
ruler, there can be no question on the subject of his general character — 
nor of his penetrating mind — his patriotism, and his devotion to what he 
considered the true interests of his country. 



^ ^ 




X-nri3l5^VrBalch.fi:oT3iaTaiiiaii^lyyG-5tuaxt- 



^:j^^^^P^^^l^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



The life of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, is 
one of the most interesting and instructive among those of the distinguished 
persons whose names are identified with American history. In the charac- 
ter of this extraordinary man, as well as in the events of his life, we are 
presented with a combination of philosophical attainments and political 
talents, of benevolent feelings, and ambitious aspirations, rarely found 
united in the same individual, and still more rarely resulting in the popu- 
lar veneration bestowed upon his name by a large portion of his country- 
men ; while by others he has been regarded in an unfavorable light as a 
statesman and a ruler, particularly in the effect of his political principles 
upon the American people, over whom he acquired such an astonishing 
ascendency. 

The family of Jefferson were among the early emigrants from Great 
Britain to Virginia. " The tradition in my father's family," the subject of 
this sketch says, in his own memoirs, " was, that their ancestor came to 
this country from Wales, and from near the mountain of Snowdon ; but 
the first particular information I have of any ancestor, was of my grand- 
father, who lived at the place in Chesterfield called Osborne's, and owned 
the lands, afterward the glebe of the parish. He had three sons : Thomas, 
who died young ; Field, who settled on the waters of the Roanoke, 
and left numerous descendants ; and Peter, my father, who settled on the 
lands I still own, called Shadwell, adjoining my present residence. He 
was born February 29, 1707-8, and intermarried, 1739, with Jane Ran- 
dolph, of the age of 19, daughter of Isham Randolph, one of the seven 
sons of that name and family settled in Goochland. They traced their 
pedigree far back in England and Scotland, to which let every one ascribe 
the faith and merit he chooses." 

At the above-named place, Shadwell, in Albemarle county, Virginia, 
Thomas Jefferson was born, on the 2d of April (old style), 1743. His 



100 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON. 

father, Peter Jefferson, a man of some distinction in the colony, died in 
1757, leaving a widow (who lived until 1776) with two sons and six 
daughters. These children inherited a handsome estate from their father: 
Thomas, the eldest, received the lands which he called Monticello, on 
which he resided, when not in public life and when he died. 

At the age of five, his father placed him at an English school, and at 
nine years of age he commenced the study of Latin and Greek, with Mr. 
Douglass, a Scotch clergyman, who also instructed him in French. On 
the death of his father, he was placed under the tuition of another clergy- 
man, Mr. Maury, a classical scholar, with whom he pursued his studies 
two years. In the spring of 1760, he entered William and Mary College, 
where he continued two years. Dr. William Small, of Scotland, was then 
professor of mathematics, and is described by Mr. Jefferson as " a man 
profound in most of the useful branches of science, with a happy talent 
of communication, correct and gentlemanly manners, and an enlarged and 
liberal mind. He, most happily for me," he adds, " became soon attached 
to me, and made me his daily companion when not engaged in the school ; 
and from his conversation I got my first views of the expansion of sci- 
ence, and of the system of things in which we are placed. He returned 
to Europe in 1762, having previously filled up the measure of his good- 
ness to me, by procuring for me, from his most intimate friend, George 
Wythe, a reception as a student at law under his direction, and introducing 
me to the acquaintance and familiar table of Governor Fauquier, the ablest 
man who had ever filled that office. Mr. Wythe continued to be my 
faithful and beloved mentor in youth, and my most affectionate friend 
through life. In 1767, he led me into the practice of the law, at the bar 
of the general court, at which I continued until the revolution shut up the 
courts of justice." 

" It has been thought," says Mr. Wirt, " that Mr. Jefferson made no fig- 
ure at the bar ; but the case was far otherwise. There are still extant, in 
his own fair and neat hand, in the manner of his master, a number of ar- 
guments which were delivered by him at the bar, upon some of the most 
intricate questions of the law ; which, if they shall ever see the light, 
will vindicate his claim to the first honors of his profession. It is true, 
he was not distinguished in popular debate ; why he was not so, has often 
been matter of surprise to those who have not seen his eloquence on pa- 
per, and heard it in conversation. He had all the attributes of the mind, 
and the heart, and the soul, which are essential to eloquence of the high- 
est order. The only defect was a physical one : he wanted volume and 
compass of voice for a large, deliberative assembly ; and his voice, from the 
excess of his sensibility, instead of rising with his feelings and concep- 
tions, sank under their pressure, and became guttural and inarticulate. 
The consciousness of this infirmity repressed any attempt in a large body 
in which he knew he must fail. But his voice was all-sufficient for the 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON. 101 

purposes of judicial debate ; and there is no reason to doubi that, if the 
service of his country had not called him away so soon from his profes- 
sion, his fame as a lawyer would now have stood upon the same distin- 
guished ground which he confessedly occupies as a statesman, an author, 
and a scholar. 

" At the time of Mr. Jefferson's appearance," the same writer remarks, 
" the society of Virginia was much diversified, and reflected pretty dis 
tinctiy an image of that of England. There was, first, the landed aris- 
tocracy, shadowing forth the order of English nobility ; then the sturdy 
yeomanry, common to them both ; and last, a fce.culum of beings, as they 
were called by Mr. Jefierson, corresponding with the mass of the English 
plebeians. 

" Mr. Jefferson, by birth, belonged to the aristocracy : but the idle and 
voluptuous life which marked that order had no charms for a mind like 
his. He relished better the strong, unsophisticated, and racy character 
of the yeomanry, and attached himself, of choice, to that body. He was 
a republican and a philanthropist, from the earliest dawn of his character. 
He read with a sort of poetic illusion, which identified him with every 
scene that his author spread before him. Enraptured with the brighter 
ages of republican Greece and Rome, he had followed with an aching 
heart the march of history which had told him of the desolation of those 
fairest portions of the earth ; and had read, with dismay and indignation, 
of that swarm of monarchies, the progeny of the Scandinavian hive, under 
which genius and liberty were now everywhere crushed. He loved his 
own country with a passion not less intense, deep, and holy, than that of Iris 
great compatriot (John Adams) : and with this love he combined an ex- 
panded philanthropy which encircled the globe. From the working of 
the strong energies within him, there arose an early vision, too, which 
cheered his youth and accompanied him through life — the vision of eman- 
cipated man throughout the world."* 

While he was .a student of law at Williamsburg, in 1765, Mr. Jefferson 
heard the celebrated speech of Patrick Henry, in the Virginia house of 
delegates, against the stamp-act ; animated by the eloquence of Henry, 
he from that time stood forward as a champion for his country. 

In 1769, he was chosen by the people of his county to represent them 
in the legislature of the colony, a station that he continued to fill up to the 
period of the revolution. In that capacity he made an effort, which was 
not successful, for the emancipation of slaves in Virginia. 

In January, 1772, Mr. Jefferson married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a widow 
of twenty-three years of age, daughter of Mr. John Wayles, an eminent 
lawyer of Virginia, who left her a considerable fortune. 

On the 12th of March, 1773, Mr. Jefferson was chosen a member of 
the first committee of correspondence established by the colonial legisla- 
• Wirt's Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson. 



102 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON. 

tures. In 1774, lie published liis " Summary View of the Rights of 
British America," a powerful pamphlet, addressed to the king of Great 
Britain, in which he set forth the true relations between the mother-coun- 
try and colonies, as claimed by the people of this coimtry. This pam- 
phlet was republished in England, under the auspices of Edmund Burke. 

In 1775, he was elected one of the delegates to represent Virginia in 
the continental Congress, of which body he was for several years one of 
the most active members. The Virginia delegates having, in pursuance 
of instructions from their provincial convention, moved a resolution in fa- 
vor of the independence of the colonies, that question was taken up in 
Congress, and, after debate, referred to a committee of five, of whom Mr. 
Jeflerson was chosen chairman. The committee, whose names are given 
in our biography of Mr. Adams, requested Mr. Jefferson to prepare the 
Declaration of Independence. To this he consented, although then one 
of the youngest members of Congress, and his draught of that paper, 
which is the principal monument of his fame, was accepted by the com- 
mittee and by Congress, with few amendments, and finally adopted on the 
4th of July, 1776. 

The new state government of Virginia having been organized the same 
year, while Mr. Jeff'erson was in Congress, and he having been elected a 
member of the legislature, where he thought he could be useful in framing 
the laws required under a republican form of government, he resigned his 
place in Congress, and took his seat in the Virginia legislature, in October. 
In this station he acted as one of a commission for revising the laws of 
the commonwealth. 

Among the laws proposed by him, and adopted, were those prohibiting 
the future importation of slaves ; for abolishing the law of prim.ogeniture, 
and providing for the equal partition of inheritances ; for establishing re- 
ligious freedom ; and for a system of general education ; which last meas- 
ure was never carried into practice in the state. 

The benevolence of Mr. Jeflferson's character is shown in a transaction 
which took place in 1779. Congress had deemed it prudent to retain in 
this country the British troops who were captured at Saratoga on the sur- 
render of Burgoyne, until the British government ratified the agreement 
of their commanding officer. These troops were removed into the inte- 
rior of the county, and Charlottesville, in Virginia, in the immediate vicinity 
of Mr. Jefferson's residence, was selected for their residence. There 
they v/ere sent in the early part of 1779, although the barracks were 
in an unfinished state, the provisions for their sustenance insufficient, 
and the roads in a bad condition. Mr. Jefferson and some of his neigh- 
bors did all in their power to alleviate the distresses of the troops, 
and the circumstances of their captivity. After arrangements were made 
for their accommodation, the governor and council, in consequence of 
the representations of persons who apprehended a scarcity of provisions, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON. 103 

determined, as they were authorized to do by Congress, to remove 
the prisoners to another state, or to some other part of Virginia. This 
intention was heard by the officers and men with distress, and with 
regret by Mr. Jefferson and his neighbors. He therefore addressed a 
letter to Governor Henry, in which he stated, in earnest and feeling 
language, the inhumanity and impolicy of the proposed measure. This 
appeal was successful, and the troops were suffered to remain at Char- 
lottesville. From the British officers Mr. Jefferson received many let- 
ters of thanks for his kindness and hospitality, which they did not for- 
get in his subsequent visit to Europe. When the time arrived for their 
leaving Virginia to return to England, the officers united in a letter of re- 
newed thanks and respectful farewell to him. In his reply Mr. Jefferson 
said : " The little attentions you are pleased to magnify so much, never 
deserved a mention or thought. Opposed as we happen to be, in our sen- 
timents of duty and honor-, and anxious for contrary events, I shall, never- 
theless, sincerely rejoice in every circumstance of happiness and safety 
which may attend you personally." 

On the first of June, 1779, Mr. Jefferson was elected by the legislature 
to succeed Patrick Henry, the first republican governor of Virginia. Af- 
ter holding the office two years, he retired to private life, and soon after- 
ward he narrowly escaped capture by a company of 250 British cavalry, 
who were sent into the interior for the purpose of surprising and making 
prisoners the members of assembly at Charlottesville. No one was taken, 
and Mr. Jefferson, when pursued, escaped on his horse, through the woods 
at Carter's mountain. He was the same year elected a member of the 
legislature. 

In 1781, Mr. Jefferson wrote his " Notes on Virginia," in reply to cer- 
tain questions addressed to him by M. de Marbois, the secretary of lega.- 
tion from France in the United States, embracing a general view of its 
geography, natural productions, statistics, government, history, and laws. 
This little work, which has been very generally admired for its style and 
variety of information, was soon after published, both in French and 
English. 

He had, in 1776, declined the appointment of commissioner, with Frank- 
lin and Deane, to negotiate treaties with France. In 1782, Congress ap- 
pointed him a minister plenipotentiary, to join those who were in Europe, 
to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain, but intelligence having 
been received that preliminaries had been signed. Congress dispensed 
with his leaving the United States, 

Having been again elected a delegate to Congress, in 1783, he was 
chairman of the committee to whom the treaty of peace with Great Brit- 
ain was referred ; and on the report of this committee the treaty was 
unanimously ratified. In 1784, he wrote notes on the establishment of a 
coinage for the United States, and proposed a different money unit from 



104 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON. 

that suggested by Robert Morris, the continental financier, and of his as- 
sistant, Gouverneur Morris. To Mr. Jefferson we are indebted for the 
dollar as the unit, and our present system of coins and decimals. 

As a member of Congress, Mr. Jefferson made but few speeches. He 
remarks : " I served with General Washington in the legislature of Vir- 
ginia, before the revolution, and during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. 
I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but 
the main point which was to decide the question." 

He was appointed by Congress, in May, 1784, with Adams and Frank- 
lin, a minister plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties of commerce with for- 
eign nations. In July he sailed from Boston for Europe, with his eldest 
daughter, and joined the other commissioners, at Paris, in August. Ne- 
gotiations were only successful with Prussia and Morocco. In March, 
1785, Mr. Jefferson was appointed by Congress to succeed Dr. Franklin 
as minister at the French court, and remained in France until Octo- 
ber, 1789. 

During his residence in Paris, his society was courted by Condorcet, 
D'Alembert, Morrellet, and other distinguished literary and scientific men 
of France ; and in the gayety, learning, taste, elegance, and hospitality of 
Paris, he found the pleasures most congenial to his disposition. In the 
month of October, 1789, he obtained leave of absence for a short time, 
and returned to the United States. He arrived at Norfolk on the 23d of 
November, and on his way home received from President Washington a 
letter offering him the appointment of secretary of state, at the organiza- 
tion of the federal government under the constitution, which had then 
recently been adopted. His inclinations Avere to return to France, as min- 
ister, which was left at his option by the president, but he finally conclu- 
ded to accede to the wishes of Washington that he should accept the seat 
in his cabinet offered to him. His reports, while secretary of state, on 
the currency, on weights and measures, on the fisheries, and on commer- 
cial restrictions, as well as his correspondence with foreign ministers, 
gave ample proofs of his ability as a statesman. In 1790, Mr. Jefferson 
accompanied President Washington on a visit to Rhode Island, after that 
state had accepted the federal constitution. In 1791, being called on by 
the president for his opinion on the act passed by Congress establishing a 
national bank, he made a written communication, objecting to the institu- 
tion as unconstitutional. The bill was, however, approved by President 
Washington. On the 31st of December, 1793, Mr. Jefferson resigned his 
seat in the cabinet, and retired to private life, at Monticello. While hold- 
ing office under Washington, he had disapproved of many of the measures 
of his administration, particularly in those which originated with the sec- 
retary of the treasury, Hamilton. Between that gentleman and Mr. Jef- 
ferson there were irreconcilable differences of opinion on political mat- 
ters, which caused constant bickerings in the cabinet first formed by Gen- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON 105 

eral Washington. The opposition to the federal administration assumed 
an organized form under the auspices of Mr. Jefferson. By his advice, 
the opposition party, which had been called anti-federalists, claimed the 
name of republicans, while their federal opponents called them democrats, 
after that name was introduced here from France. The term democrat 
was seldom used or countenanced by Mr. Jefferson. 

In 1796, the political friends of Mr. Jefferson brought him forward as a 
candidate for president, but as Mr. Adams received the highest number of 
votes, that gentleman was elected president, and Mr. Jefferson vice-presi- 
dent, for four years from March 4, 1797. During that period, when not 
presiding in the senate, his time was passed in his favorite retreat at Mon- 
ticello. He wrote a manual for the senate, which has ever since been 
the standard guide of Congress, as well as other political bodies, in the 
rules for transacting business. 

In 1800, Mr. Jefferson was again nominated by his party, for president, 
and received a majority of votes over Mr. Adams. The votes for Mr. Jef- 
ferson and Colonel Burr, the republican candidates for president and vice- 
president, being equal, the house of representatives, as then required by 
the constitution, were called upon to decide which should be president. 
When the election came on in the house, the political opponents of Mr. 
Jefferson voted for Burr ; but on the 36th ballot, the opposition being par- 
tially withdrawn, Mr. Jefferson was elected president, and Colonel Burr 
became, of course, vice-president. 

Of the events of Mr. Jefferson's administration we shall speak in an- 
other place. He was re-elected president in 1804, and retired finally 
from public life March 4, 1809. The remaining seventeen years of 
his life were passed in the tranquillity of Monticello. " Here," says Mr. 
Webster, " he lived as became a wise man. Surrounded by affectionate 
friends, his ardor in the pursuit of knowledge undiminished, with uncom- 
mon health, and unbroken spirits, he was able to enjoy largely the rational 
pleasures of life, and to partake in that public prosperity which he had so 
much contributed to produce. His kindness and hospitality, the charm 
of his conversation, the ease of his manners, the extent of his acquire- 
ments, and especially the full store of revolutionary incidents which he 
possessed, and which he knew when and how to dispense, rendered his 
abode in a high degree attractive to his admiring countrymen, while his 
public and scientific character drew toward him every intelHgent and edu- 
cated traveller from abroad." 

The correspondence of Mr. Jefferson was extensive through life. In 
his latter years he renewed his intimacy with Mr. Adams, and the letters 
between the two ex-presidents which were published, are of the most 
friendly character. 

The principal object in which Mr. Jefferson took an interest in his de- 
clining years, was that of a system of education in Virginia, especially in 



106 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON. 

the superintendence of the university of Virginia, which was founded in 
1818, through his instrumentahty. This institution was located at Char- 
lottesville, at the foot of the mountain on which Monticello is situated, 
and Mr. Jefl'crson acted as rector from the time of its foundation until his 
death. 

The pecuniary circumstances of Mr. Jefferson became embarrassed in 
his old age. He was compelled to dispose of his library, which was pur- 
chased by Congress for $23,950, and in 1825 he applied to the legislature 
of Virginia for leave to dispose of his estate at Monticello by lottery, to 
prevent its being sacrificed in payment of his debts. His request was 
granted, but his earthly career was closed before his wishes could be car- 
ried into effect. After a short illness, he died the following 4th of July, 
1826, the aniversary of that day which fifty years before had been ren- 
dered memorable by that declaration of independence which had emana- 
ted from his pen. We have mentioned in another place the remarkable 
coincidence that his compatriot, John Adams, died on the same day. 

In a private memorandum left by Mr. Jefferson, he desired that a small 
granite obelisk might be erected over his remains, with the following in- 
scription : — 

Here was buried 

Thomas Jefferson, 

Author of the Declaration of Independence, 

Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, 

And Father of the University of Virginia. 

The age of Mr. Jefferson at the time of his death, was a little over 
eighty-three years. His wife died in 1782, leaving three daughters, one 
of whom died young, one married John W. Eppes, and the other Thomas 
M. Randolph, both of Virginia, the latter afterward governor of the state. 
Mrs. Eppes died in 1804, while Mr. Jefferson was president; Mrs. Ran- 
dolph survived him. 

In person Mr. Jefferson was beyond the ordinary dimensions, being six 
feet two inches in height, thin, but well formed, erect in his carriage, and 
imposing in his appearance. His complexion was fair, his hair, originally 
red, became white and silvery in old age ; his eyes were light blue, 
sparkling with intelligence, and beaming with philanthropy ; his nose was 
large, his forehead broad, and his whole countenance indicated great sen- 
sibility and profound thought. His manners were simple and unpolished, 
yet dignified, and all who approached him were rendered perfectly at ease, 
both by his republican habits and his genuine politeness. His disposition 
being cheerful, his conversation was lively and enthusiastic, remarkable 
for the chastity of his colloquial diction and the correctness of his phrase- 
ology. He disliked form and parade, and his dress was remarkably plain, 
and often slovenly. Benevolence and liberality were prominent traits of 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON. 107 

his disposition. To his slaves he was an indulgent master. As a neigh- 
bor, he was much esteemed for his liberality and friendly offices. As a 
friend, he was ardent and unchangeable ; and as a host, the munificence 
of his hospitality was carried to the excess of self-impoverishment. He 
possessed great fortitude of mind, and his command of temper was such 
that he Avas never seen in a passion. 

As a man of letters, and a votary of science, he acquired high distinction. 
In the classics, and in several European languages, as well as in mathe- 
matics, he attained a proficiency not common to American students. 

With regard to his political opinions, and his character as a statesman, 
his countrymen have widely differed in their estimates. By some per- 
sons he has been considered as one of the most pure, amiable, dignified, 
wise, and patriotic of men. By others he has been considered as re- 
markably defective in the qualities which dignify and adorn human life, 
and as one of the most wrong-headed statesmen that ever lived. Poster- 
ity will judge which of these opinions is right, and which is wrong. His 
writings which, agreeably to directions left by him, have been published 
since his death, afford ample materials for judging of his character. 
They consist of four volumes, octavo, of correspondence, anas, Sic. 

The religious opinions of Mr. Jefferson were peculiar and eccentric. 
His writings show that he was a free-thinker, with a preference for some 
of the doctrines of unitarianism. In a letter to a friend he says : " I have 
to thank you for your pamphlets on the subjects of unitarianism, and to 
express my gratification with your efforts for the revival of primitive 
Christianity in your quarter. And a strong proof of the solidity of the 
primitive faith is its restoration, as soon as a nation arises which vindi- 
cates to itself the freedom of religious opinion, and its external divorce 
from civil authority. I confidently expect that the present generation will 
see unitarianism become the general religion of the United States." 

In a letter to William Short, dated April, 1820, when alluding to the 
subject of religion, Mr. Jefferson remarks : " But it is not to be under- 
stood that I am with him [Jesus] in all his doctrines. I am a materialist ; 
he takes the side of spiritualism ; he preaches the efficacy of repentance 
toward forgiveness of sin ; I require a counterpoise of good works to re- 
deem it, &c., &c. It is the innocence of his character, the purity and 
sublimity of his moral precepts, the eloquence of his inculcations, the 
beauty of the apologues in which he conveys them, that I so much ad- 
mire ; sometimes, indeed, needing indulgence to eastern hyperbolism. My 
eulogies, too, may be founded on a postulate which all may not be ready 
to grant. Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biog- 
raphers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of 
the most lovely benevolence ; and others, again, of so much ignorance, so 
much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pro- 
nounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from 



108 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JEFFERSON. 

the same being. I separate, therefore, the gold from the dross ; restore 
to him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and 
roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, 
Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Je- 
sus. These palpable interpolations and falsification of his doctrines led 
me to try to sift them apart. I found the work obvious and easy, and that 
his part composed the most beautiful morsel of morality which has been 
given to us by man." 

The following is an extract from the last letter of Mr. Jefferson, written 
only ten days previous to his death : — 

"MoNTiCELLO, June 24, 1826. 

" Respected Sir : The kind invitation I received from you, on the 
part of the citizens of Washington, to be present with them at their cele- 
bration on the fiftieth anniversary of American independence, as one of 
the surviving signers of an instrument pregnant with our own, and the 
fate of the world, is most flattering to myself, and heightened by the hon- 
orable accompaniment proposed for the comfort of such a journey. It adds 
sensibly to the suff"erings of sickness, to be deprived by it of a personal 
participation in the rejoicings of that day. But acquiescence is a duty, 
under circumstances not placed among those we are permitted to control. 
May that day be to the world, what I believe it will be (to some parts 
sooner, to others later, but finally to all) the signal of arousing men to 
burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had per- 
suaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security 
of self-government. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day for 
ever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an imdiminished devo- 
tion to them. " Th. Jefferson. 
" To Mr. Weightman." 




:Eii,J''i7^.BalAfi:<mi aPamtuigiy Stuart . 



{^.^-c^^-i ^C{^ d^i^<^ (^y 6^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OF 



JAMES MADISON. 



James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, was born in 
Orange county, Virginia, on the 16th of March, 1751. His father was 
James Madison, the family being of Welsh descent, and among the early 
emigrants to Virginia. The subject of the present sketch studied the 
English, Latin, Greek, French, and Italian languages, and was fitted for 
college under the tuition of Mr. Robertson, a native of Scotland, and the 
Rev. Mr. Martin, a Jerseyman. He graduated at Princeton, New Jersey, 
in 1771 ; and afterward remained a year at college, pursuing his studies 
under the superintendence of Doctor Witherspoon, president of the insti- 
tution. His constitution was impaired by close application to his studies, 
and his health was, for many years, feeble. Returning to Virginia, he com- 
menced the practice of the law, but the scenes of the revolution left but 
little opportunity for the quiet pursuits of private life, and his talents being 
soon appreciated by his neighbors, he was called into the public service 
at an early age. In 1776 he was elected a member of the general assem- 
bly of Virginia, and in 1778 he was appointed one of the executive coun- 
cillors. In the winter of 1779-'80 he was chosen a delegate to the con- 
tinental Congress, of which body he continued an active and prominent, 
member till 1784. In January, 1786, the legislature of Virginia appointed 
Mr. Madison one of their delegates to a convention of commissioners, or 
delegates, from the several states, to meet at Annapolis, Maryland, the en- 
suing September, to devise a uniform system of commercial regulations 
which should be binding on the whole confederacy, when ratified by all the 
states. Only five states were represented in this convention, but the mem- 
bers present took a step which led to important results. They recom- 
mended a convention of delegates from all the states, to be held at Phila- 
delphia, in May, 1787, to take into consideration the situation of the 
United States, to devise such further provisions as should appear to them 



110 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MADISON. 

necessary to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to 
the exigencies of the Union. Of that convention, which framed the con- 
stitution of the United States, Mr. Madison was one of the most distin- 
guished members. He took a leading part in the debates on the various 
plans of a constitution submitted to the convention, and to his efforts in 
maturing the constitution as finally adopted, the country is greatly indebt- 
ed. He took notes of the proceedings and debates of the convention, 
which, since his death, have been published, forming a valuable text-book 
for American statesmen. 

In the convention, Mr. Madison generally coincided with General 
Washington and other members in their views in favor of a strong national 
government. A paper in the handwriting of General Washington, and 
found among the documents left by him, contains a summary of Mr. Mad- 
ison's opinions on the subject of a form of constitution to be proposed. It 
is the substance of a letter received by Washington from Mr. Madison, a 
short time previous to the assembling of the convention at Philadelphia, 
and has been published in the North American Review, volume xxxv., as 
follows : — 

" Mr. Madison thinks an individual independence of the states utterly 
irreconcilable with their aggregate sovereignty, and that a consolidation of 
the whole into one simple republic would be as inexpedient as it is unat- 
tainable. He therefore proposes a middle ground, which may at once 
support a due supremacy of the national authority, and not exclude the 
local authorities whenever they can be subordinately useful. 

" As the groundwork, he proposes that a change be made in the princi- 
ple of representation, and thinks there would be no great difficulty in 
effecting it. 

" Next, that, in addition to the present federal powers, the national gov- 
ernment should be armed with positive and complete authority in all cases 
Avhich require uniformity ; such as regulation of trade, including the right 
of taxing both exports and imports, the fixing the terms and forms of nat- 
uralization, &c. 

" Over and above this positive power, a negative in all cases whatever 
on the legislative acts of the states, as heretofore exercised by the kingly 
prerogative, appears to him absolutely necessary, and to be the least pos- 
sible encroachment on the state jurisdictions. Without this defensive 
power he conceives that every positive law which can be given on paper, 
will be evaded. 

" This control over the laws would prevent the internal vicissitudes of 
state policy, and the aggressions of interested majorities. 

" The national supremacy ought also to be extended, he thinks, to the 
judiciary departments ; the oaths of the judges should at least include a 
fidelity to the general as well as local constitution ; and that an appeal 
should be to some national tribunals in all cases to which foreigners or in- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MADISON. Ill 

habitants of other states may be parties. The admiralty jurisdictions to 
fall entirely within the purview of the national government. 

" The national supremacy in the executive departments is liable to some 
difficulty, unless the officers administering them could be made appointa- 
ble by the supreme government. The militia ought entirely to be placed, 
in some form or other, under the authority which is intrusted with the 
general protection and defence. 

" A government composed of such extensive powers should be well or- 
ganized and balanced. 

" The legislative department might be divided into two branches, one 
of them chosen every — years, by the people at large, or by the legisla- 
tures ; the other to consist of fewer members, to hold their places for a 
longer term, and to go out in such rotation as always to leave in office a 
large majority of old members. 

" Perhaps the negative on the laws might be most conveniently exer- 
cised by this branch. 

" As a further check, a council of revision, including the great ministe- 
rial officers, might be superadded. 

" A national executive must also be provided. He has scarcely ven- 
tured as yet to form his own opinion, either of the manner in which it 
ought to be constituted, or of the authorities with which it ought to be 
clothed. 

" An article should be inserted, expressly guarantying the tranquillity 
of the states against internal as well as external dangers. 

" In like manner, the right of coercion should be expressly declared. 
With the resources of commerce in hand, the national administration 
might always find means of exerting it either by sea or land ; but the dif- 
ficulty and awkwardness of operating by force on the collective will of a 
state, render it particularly desirable that the necessity of it might be pre- 
cluded. Perhaps the negative on the laws might create such a mutual 
dependence between the general and particular authorities as to answer ; 
or perhaps some defined objects of taxation might be submitted along with 
commerce, to the general authority. 

" To give a new system its proper validity and energy, a ratification 
must be obtained from the people, and not merely from the ordinary au- 
thority of the legislature. This will be the more essential, as inroads on 
the existing constitutions of the states will be unavoidable." 

The foregoing views of Mr. Madison, expressed by him before the con- 
stitution was formed, are highly interesting, as evincing a remarkable de- 
gree of foresight and political wisdom, and forming the basis of the prin- 
cipal features of the constitution as finally adopted by the convention. 

The constitution having passed the ordeal of the national convention, in 
September, 1787, was next, by the recommendation of that body, submit- 
ted to conventions elected by the people of the several states, for their 



112 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MADISON. 

consideration. Mr. Madison was elected a member of the convention of 
Virginia, chosen for that purpose, and here his best efforts were again 
called into requisition, to secure the sanction of his native state to a meas- 
ure which he deemed of the most vital importance to the interests of the 
whole Union. In this state convention of Virginia were assembled some 
of the most able and talented of her sons, including many of the patriots 
of the revolution, and others renowned for wisdom and eloquence ; but 
with widely discordant views on the subject of a form of national govern- 
ment. Among those who acted with Mr. Madison in advocating the 
adoption of the constitution, were John Marshall, Edmund Pendleton, 
George Wj'the, and Edmund Randolph ; while Patrick Henry, James 
Monroe, William Grayson, and George Mason, were among the oppo- 
nents. The question was finally carried in favor of adoption by 89 votes 
to 79. 

Notwithstanding the triumph of the federalists, as the friends of the con- 
stitution were then called, in the convention of Virginia, the anti-federal- 
ists held the majority in the legislature. An attempt to elect Mr. Mad- 
ison to the senate of the United States was, therefore, unsuccessful, 
Messrs. Grayson and R. H, Lee being preferred. Mr. Madison was, how- 
ever, elected by the people of one of the congressional districts, a member 
of the house of representatives, and took his seat in the new Congress, at 
New York, in April, 1789. In that body he bore an active and leading part 
in the adoption of measures for the organization of the government. He 
continued a distinguished member of Congress during the eight years of 
General Washington's administration, which terminated in March, 1797. 
He opposed the funding system, the national bank, and other measures of 
the administration which originated with Hamilton, secretary of the treas- 
ury ; acting generally with the anti-federalists, who sustained the views of 
Mr. Jefferson, then secretary of state ; notwithstanding Madison had been 
one of the most distinguished champions of the constitution previous to its 
adoption, and was associated with Hamilton and Jay in the production of 
the celebrated essays called " The Federalist," which had an important in- 
fluence with the people, in favor of the constitution. 

In 1794, being then in his forty-third year, Mr. Madison married Mrs. 
Dolly Paine Todd, of Philadelphia, the widow of a lawyer of Pennsylva- 
nia, who died in less than three years after her first marriage. This 
lady's maiden name was Paine ; and her father, who belonged to the soci- 
ety of Friends, had removed from Virginia to Philadelphia. She was 
about twenty years younger than Mr. Madison; she died in 1849. She 
was always admired for her agreeable manners, her fine person, and tal- 
ents in conversation. With an amiable disposition, a mild and dignified 
deportment, few American ladies have been more distinguished than Mrs. 
Madison, in the various and high stations she has been called to occupy 
and adorn through life. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MADISON. 113 

In January, 1794, Mr. Madison introduced into the house of representa- 
tives a series of resolutions on the subject of the commerce of the United 
States with foreign nations. They were based on a previous report made 
to Congress by Mr. .Jefferson, secretary of state, on the subject of foreign 
relations, and were probably prepared with the concurrence of Mr. Jeffer- 
son, as a manuscript copy was found among his papers. They were re- 
taliatory in their character toward Great Britain, and considered favorable 
to the interests of France. They gave rise to a warm debate, parties be- 
ing nearly balanced in the house, but the subject was finally postponed, 
without definite action. 

Mr. Madison continued to act with the democratic, or republican party, 
for the remainder of his political career, co-operating with Mr. Jefferson 
in his views of national policy, and between these two gentlemen there 
existed through their lives the warmest personal friendship. In 1797, 
Mr. Madison retired from Congress, and in order to oppose the adminis- 
tration of Mr. Adams in a new form, he accepted a seat in the Virginia 
legislature, in 1798, where he made a report on the subject of the alien 
and sedition laws which had been passed by the federal party in Con- 
gress, concluding with a series of resolutions against those laws ; which 
resolutions have since formed a text for the doctrine of state-rights, as held 
by the democratic party of Virginia and some other states. 

On the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the presidency, in 1801, he ap- 
pointed Mr. Madison secretary of state, which office he held during the 
eight years of Mr. Jefferson's administration ; and in 1809, having received 
the nomination and support of the democratic party, he succeeded his 
friend and coadjutor, as president of the United States. During his ad- 
ministration, in 1812, war was declared by Congress against Great Brit- 
ain, to which measure he reluctantly consented, and the same year he was 
re-elected to the presidency. In his selection of commissioners to nego- 
tiate a treaty of peace, Mr. Madison showed his anxiety for a termination 
of the war, by the appointment of able men, sincerely desirous of peace, 
which was concluded at Ghent, in December, 1814. 

The anxious and exciting scenes of war were not congenial to a per- 
son of the peaceful disposition of Mr. Madison, yet the duties of his high 
office were performed with firmness and ability. Among the events of 
the war which were calculated to disturb his equanimity, was the capture 
of the city of Washington, and the destruction of the public buildings, by 
the British, in 1814. The president and some other principal officers of 
the government narrowly escaped from being made prisoners by the Brit- 
ish troops ; they, however, were saved by a rapid flight. 

After the return of peace, the remainder of Mr. Madison's administra- 
tion was prosperous and tranquil. The interests of agriculture and com- 
merce revived among the people, and the national revenue was rapidly 
replenished from the fruits of returning prosperity. The manufacturing; 
8 



114 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MADISON. 

interests, however, languished for -want of adequate protection. The pres- 
ident was favorable to their encouragement. He changed his views on 
the subject of a national bank, and signed the bill for incorporating the 
bank of the United States, in 1816. He had, in 1791, opposed the bank 
then incorporated, as unconstitutional, and in 1815 he had returned to 
Congress a bill incorporating a bank, as he disapproved of some of its 
provisions ; but in the following year he waived his objections, and ap- 
proved of an act of incorporation, somewhat modified. 

On the 3d of March, 1817, Mr. Madison's administration was brought to 
a close, and he retired from public life, being then sixty-six years of age, to 
his seat at Montpelier, in Orange county, Virginia, where he passed the 
remainder of his days. In 1829 he was chosen a member of the state con- 
vention to revise the constitution of Virginia, and for several years he acted 
as visiter and rector of the University of Virginia. He was also chosen 
president of an agricultural society in the county where he resided, and 
before this society he delivered an address, admirable for its classical 
beauty and practical knowledge. 

Having arrived at a good old age, and numbered eighty-five years, the 
mortal career of Mr. Madison was closed on the 28th of June, 1836. Con- 
gress and other public bodies adopted testimonials of respect for his memory. 
He left no children. 

In his personal appearance, Mr. Madison was of small stature, and 
rather protuberant in front. He had a calm expression, penetrating blue 
eyes, and was slow and grave in his speech. At the close of his 
presidency he seemed to be care-worn, with an appearance of more 
advanced age than was the fact. He was bald on the top of his head, 
wore his hair powdered, and generally dressed in black. His manner 
was modest and retiring, but in conversation he was pleasing and instruc- 
tive, having a mind well stored with the treasures of learning, and being 
particularly familiar with the political world. On his accession to the presi- 
dency he restored the custom of levees at the presidential mansion, which 
had been abolished by Mr. Jefi'erson. It was on the occasion of these 
levees, that his accomplished lady, by her polite and attractive attentions 
and manners, shone with peculiar lustre. Mr. Madison was fond of soci- 
ety, although he had travelled but little ; never having visited foreign 
countries, or seen much of the people and country over which he presided. 

When a member of deliberative bodies, Mr. Madison was an able de- 
bater, having acquired self-confidence by slow degrees. As a writer, he 
has few equals among American statesmen, and the style of his public 
documents and his correspondence has always been much admired. He 
was at the time of his death, the last surviving signer of the constitution, 
and the part he bore in framing that instrument, his subsequent advo- 
cacy of it, by his writings, with his adherence to its provisions, obtained 
for him the title of " Father of the Constitution." 




"ExLJ^'iT Y3alc1. ftoin. a?ain.Ka.^iy atiiar t . 



^^c-n^nn/y^ /^^-^^^^^^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OF 



JAMES MONROE 



The family of Monroe is one of the most ancient and honorable among 
the early settlers of Virginia. It is remarkable that the tide water section 
of that state has produced four of the first five presidents of the United 
States ; Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, having been born in 
that part of Virginia, and within a few miles of each other. The same sec- 
tion of country, it may be added, was honored also as the birthplace of 
the biographer of Washington, who for many years was the ornament of 
the supreme court of the United States — Chief- Justice Marshall. 

The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, was born on 
the 2d of April, 1759, in the county of Westmoreland, Virginia. His pa- 
rents were Spence Monroe and Elizabeth Jones, both membr^rs of old and 
highly respectable families in the ancient dominion. His early youth was 
passed in the midst of that exciting contest which led to the American 
revolution ; the stamp act being passed in the sixth year of his age. He 
was thus educated in the detestation of tyranny, and prompted by a patri- 
otism which went beyond his years, he left the college of William and 
Mary, where he was pursuing collegiate studies, to join the standard of 
his country, in the 18th year of his age. The declaration of independ- 
ence had just been issued, and at that disastrous moment when Washing- 
ton was preparing to defend New York, against the increasing armies of 
England ; when the timid and wavering were sinking from the side of 
their country's chief, James Monroe arrived at headquarters, with a firm 
determination to share her fate, whether for good or for evil.* 

During the gloomy year of 1776, he shared with the army their defeats 
and their privations ; was present at the disastrous battles of Harlem 

* For a part of this sketch we are indebted to the Americau Annual Register, vol. vi., 
published in 1832. 



116 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MONROE. 

heights and Whiteplains ; and in the battle of Trenton, while leading the 
vanguard, he received a wound, the scar of which he carried to his grave. 
After recovering from his wound, he was promoted for his gallantry, to the 
rank of a captain of infantry, and returned to active service. During the 
campaigns of 1777 and 1778, he acted as aid to Lord Stirling, and by 
accepting this place in the staff of that general, he receded from the line 
of promotion ; but in that capacity he distinguished himself in the actions 
of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. Becoming desirous to re- 
gain his position in the line of the army, he endeavored to raise a regi- 
ment of "Virginia troops, under the recommendation of General Washing- 
ton, and the authority of the legislature. In this he failed, owing to the 
exhausted state of the country. He therefore devoted himself to the study 
of the law, under the direction of Mr. Jeflerson, who was then governor 
of the state. He occasionally acted as a volunteer in repelling the inva- 
sions with which Virginia was afterward visited ; and after the fall of 
Charleston, in 1780, he repaired to the southern army, as a military com- 
missioner, to collect information as to its ability to rescue that portion of 
the Union from the enemy. This duty was performed to the satisfaction 
of the governor, by whom he was appointed. 

He now commenced his career in the legislative councils of his coun- 
try, being elected in 1782, by the county of King George, a member of 
the legislature of Virginia, and by that body shortly after chosen a mem- 
ber of the executive council. He was then only in his twenty-fourth year, 
but appears to have evinced sufficient tact in legislation to induce the 
legislature to elect him the following year one of the delegates to represent 
the state in the continental Congress. He took his seat in that body on the 
13th of December, just in time to be present at Annapolis when Washing- 
ton surrendered his commission into the hands of the authority by whom 
he had been appointed. From that time until 1786, Mr. Monroe contin- 
ued to represent his native state in Congress, and became entirely con- 
vinced of the inefficiency of that body to govern the country under the ar- 
ticles of confederation. He accordingly sought an extension of its pow- 
ers, and in 1785 moved to invest Congress with the power of regulating 
trade. This resolution, together with another in favor of investing it with 
the power of levying an impost duty of five per cent., were referred to a 
committee, of which Mr. Monroe was chairman. 

A report was made, which combined both the objects, and proposed 
such alterations in the articles of confederation as were necessary to vest 
in Congress the powers required. These were among the steps which 
led to the convention at Annapolis, and consequently to the formation and 
adoption of the federal constitution. Mr. Monroe was also active and in- 
fluential in devising a system for disposing of and settling the public lands, 
and warmly opposed the plan of selling each range of townsliips separately, 
before any other should be offered for sale. 



1 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MONROE. HJ 

Oil the 24tli of December, 1784, Mr. Monroe was appointed, with eight 
other highly distinguished men of that period, members of a federal court, to 
decide the long pending controversy between Massachusetts and New 
York. He accepted of the appointment, but on the 15th of May, 1786, he 
resigned his commission, and the two states having, during the same year 
adjusted the matter by mutual agreement, the court never met. 

Mr. Monroe differed from both New York and Massachusetts on the 
question of relinquishing our right to navigate the Mississippi river, as de- 
manded by Spain and assented to by the northern states. The southern 
states opposed the relinquishment of this right, and Mr. Monroe took a 
leading part against any concession to Spain. 

While attending the continental Congress, as a member, at New York, 
Mr. Monroe married Miss Kortright, daughter of Mr. L. Kortright, of that 
city. This lady had been celebrated in the fashionable circles of London 
and Paris for her beauty and accomplishments, and in married life she 
was exemplary, as well as an ornament to the society in which she was 
called to act during the scenes of her husband's subsequent career. 

Toward the conclusion of the year 1786, Mr. Monroe's term of service 
in Congress expired, and, by the rule then adopted, being ineligible for a 
second term, he established himself at Fredericksburg, with the view of 
practising law. He was soon, however, again called from the pursuits of 
private life, by being elected a member of the legislature, and thfe follow- 
ing year, 1788, he was chosen a delegate to the state convention, assem- 
bled to decide upon the adoption of the federal constitution. 

Notwithstanding Mr. Monroe was convinced of the inefficiency of the 
articles of confederation, and of the necessity of a radical change in the 
government of the Union, he was not altogether prepared to adopt the fed- 
eral constitution, as framed by the convention of 1787. He thought that 
certain amendments ought to be made previous to its adoption, and deci- 
dedly advocated that course in the convention. We have already stated, 
in the memoir of Mr. Madison, that the leading men of Virginia in the 
state convention, were much divided on the question of the adoption of the 
constitution. Among those who opposed it in that body, besides Mr. 
Monroe, were Patrick Henry, George Mason, and William Grayson, while 
its most powerful advocates were James Madison, John Marshall, Ed- 
mund Randolph, and Edmund Pendleton. The convention finally adopted 
the constitution as it was, by a vote of 89 to 79, Mr. Monroe being 
among the negatives ; certain amendments were at the same time recom- 
mended for the adoption of the states, instead of being insisted on previ- 
ous to the acceptance of the constitution. 

The course which Mr. Monroe pursued on this occasion was accepta- 
ble to the state of Virginia, as was proved by the election of a majority 
of anti-federalists to Congress, including the two senators ; and on the 
death of Mr. Grayson, one of the latter, Mr. Monroe was chosen to the 



]^18 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MONROE. 

senate of the United States in his place, and took his seat in that body 
in 1790. In this station he continued until 1794, acting with the anti-fed- 
eral party in opposition to Washington's administration, as did Mr. Madi- 
son and most of the Virginia delegation in Congress. The French re- 
publican government having requested the recall of Gouverneur Morris, 
American minister to France, General Washington complied with their 
wishes, as also those of the democratic party in Congress, and appointed 
Mr. Monroe the successor of Mr. Morris, in May, 1794. He was re- 
ceived with distinguished favor in France by the government and people, 
but the course he pursued during his residence at the capital of that re- 
public was not conformable to the views of neutrality entertained by Gen- 
eral Washington, who therefore recalled him in 1796, and sent Charles 
Cotesworth Pinckney in his place. 

On his return to the United States, Mr. Monroe published a volume in 
explanation of his views and proceedings relative to his mission to France, 
vindicating his own course, and censuring the policy of the administration 
toward the French republic. 

He, however, did not cherish any animosity toward General Washing- 
ton, but at a subsequent period he joined with his countrymen in ac- 
knowledging the merits and perfect integrity of that great man. He 
also did ample justice to the character of John Jay, who negotiated his 
celebrated treaty with Great Britain about the same time that Mr. Monroe 
visited France. Although opposed to the treaty made by Mr. Jay, and to 
his political views generally, Mr. Monroe left on record in his own hand- 
writing, an unqualified testimonial to the pure patriotism, the pre-eminent 
ability, and the spotless integrity of John Jay. 

Shortly after his return from France, Mr. Monroe was chosen to the 
legislature, and in 1799 he was elected by that body governor of Virginia, 
where he served for the term of three years, then limited by the constitu- 
tion of the state. 

In 1803, President Jefferson appointed Mr. Monroe envoy extraordinary 
to France, to act jointly with Mr. Livingston, then resident minister at 
Paris, to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans, or a right of depot for 
the United States on the Mississippi. He was also associated with Mr. 
Charles Pinckney, then resident minister at Madrid, to negotiate terms 
also with Spain relative to Louisiana. 

We have, in our notice of Mr. Jefferson's administration, given an ac- 
count of the purchase of Louisiana by the United States, of France. 
That country had been ceded by Spain to France, and Mr. Monroe, upon 
his arrival in France, found a most favorable conjuncture for the accom- 
plishment of the mission, in being enabled to obtain for his country 
the possession, not only of New Orleans, but of the whole province of 
Louisiana. The treaty was concluded within a fortnight after the arrival 
of Mr. Monroe at Paris, and after the conclusion of the negotiation he 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MONROE. 119 

proceeded to London, where he was also commissioned to act as succes- 
sor to Mr. Rufus King, who had resigned. 

Here he sought to obtain a conventional arrangement for the protection 
of American seamen against impressment, and for the protection of neu- 
tral rights ; but in the midst of these discussions he was called away to 
the discharge of his mission to Spain. 

In the transfer of Louisiana to France by Spain, and to the United 
States by France, the boundaries of the province were not defined. Spain 
was encouraged to dispute the extent of the province, and she sought to 
reduce it to a territory of small dimensions. A controversy arose be- 
tween the United States and Spain, at one time threatening war, and for 
the purpose of attempting an adjustment of these difficulties Mr. Monroe 
proceeded to Madrid. His efforts, joined with those of Mr. Pinckney, 
were unsuccessful, and the controversy was left unsettled. 

Mr. Monroe was then recalled to London to maintain our rights as neu- 
trals, against the systematic encroachment of Great Britain. He was 
there joined by Mr. William Pinkney, who had then been recently sent 
from the United States, as minister to England. A whig ministry being 
then in power in Great Britain, with the friendly feelings of that party 
toward the United States, Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney were enabled to 
negotiate a treaty, in 1807, which, although not as favorable as they would 
have wished, was considered by those envoys as advantageous to the Uni- 
ted States. As the treaty was clogged with certain conditions which were 
deemed by President Jefferson inadmissible, it was not submitted by him 
to the senate, but sent back to England for revisal. The British cabinet, 
however, had been changed, and Mr. Canning, the secretary for foreign 
affairs, refused to resume the negotiation. The mission of Messrs. Mon- 
roe and Pinkney was now at an end. Mr. Monroe, after a short detention, 
in consequence of the difficulty which grew out of the affair of the Ches- 
apeake frigate, returned to the United States in 1807. 

For a considerable time Mr. Monroe felt dissatisfied with his friend, 
President Jefferson, in consequence of his rejection of the treaty with 
Great Britain without consulting the senate, and also from an impression 
that the president's influence was exerted in favor of Mr. Madison as his 
successor to the presidency. Mr. Jefferson, in his correspondence with 
Mr. Monroe, explained his course with regard to the rejection of the 
treaty, and declared his intention to remain perfectly neutral between his 
two friends who were named to succeed him. The Virginia legislature 
settled their respective claims to the presidency, by deciding in favor of 
Mr. Madison, in which decision Mr. Monroe and his friends acquiesced. 

In 1811 he was again elected governor of Virginia, but continued but 
a short time in that station, for upon the resignation of Robert Smith, he 
was appointed by Mr. Madison secretary of state. This office he contin- 
ued to hold during the remainder of Mr. Madison's administration. 



120 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MONROE. 

After the capture of Washington city, and the resignation of General 
Armstrong, Mr. Monroe was appointed to the war department, without, 
however, resigning as secretary of state. In this station he exhibited a 
remarkable energy and boldness of character. He found the treasury ex- 
hausted, and the public credit prostrated ; while the enemy, relieved from 
his war with France, was preparing to turn his numerous armies, flushed 
with victory over the legions of Napoleon, against the United States. The 
first duty of the secretary of war was to prepare for the new campaign, and 
this he was enabled to do by the now excited spirit of the country. The 
army already authorized by acts of Congress, if the regiments were full, 
numbered 60,000 men, which Mr. Monroe proposed to increase by the ad- 
dition of 40,000, and to levy new recruits by draughting from the whole 
mass of able-bodied men in the United States. This proposition, which 
was considered an imitation of the French mode of conscription long prac- 
tised by Napoleon, and would inevitably have lost him the favor of the 
people, he felt it to be his duty to make, and had intended, in case of the 
continuance of the war, to withdraw his name from the presidential can- 
vass. To two or three friends he disclosed his feelings on this occasion, 
in confidence, and had authorized them to publish his intention of decli- 
ning a nomination as successor to Mr. Madison, when the conclusion of 
peace rendered the increase of the army unnecessary, and therefore 
removed the objections to his being a candidate for president. 

Toward the end of the year 1814, Mr. Monroe's attention, as secretary 
of war, was most urgently called to the defence of New Orleans, against 
which a powerful fleet and army had been despatched. To raise the 
funds for the defence of this important point, Mr. Monroe was compelled 
to pledge his private credit, as subsidiary to that of the government, which 
then was at a low ebb. By this act of devotion he was enabled to furnish 
the necessary supplies ; New Orleans was successfully defended, and the 
entire defeat of the British army under General Packenham terminated 
the war in a manner honorable to the American arms. 

A new series of duties now awaited Mr. Monroe. Upon the conclusion 
of peace he resumed his station in the department of state, and as the long- 
tried friend and confidential adviser of Mr. Madison, he was called to the 
arduous task of deciding upon those measures which aimed at the re-cs- 
tablishment of the public credit, and to place the country in a better state 
of preparation, in case she should be called upon again to assert her rights 
by an appeal to arms. Our foreign relations, which had been partially 
suspended during the war, Avere to be renewed, and the domestic policy 
of the United States required to be modified so as to adapt it to the great 
changes which had been produced by the general pacification of Europe. 
In the performance of the arduous duties imposed upon him at this period, 
Mr. Monroe had the good fortune to be sustained by public opinion, and 
with that auxiliary he lent his zealous co-operation to Mr. Madison in es- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MONROE. 121 

tablishing the system of internal policy, adopted after the close of the war, 
and continued it with new and enlarged features after his election as pres- 
ident of the United States, in 1817. 

In 1816, Mr. Monroe received the nomination of the democratic party, 
through their representatives in Congress, for president of the United 
States. With that party he had uniformly acted, under the various names 
of anti-federal, democratic, and republican, and by them was he elected, 
in 1816, chief magistrate of the nation, to succeed Mr. Madison, on the 
4th of March, 1817. Previous to entering on the duties of his high office, 
he was advised by General Jackson, Avith whom he was on the most 
friendly terms, to disregard former party divisions in the formation of his 
cabinet, and to use his influence and power to destroy party spirit, by ap- 
pointing the best men to office, without regard to their political preferen- 
ces. This course Mr. Monroe declined to pursue, confining his appoint- 
ments generally, as did his predecessors Jefferson and Madison, to those 
who professed his own political faith, and excluding federalists from office, 
with but few exceptions. 

In other respects the policy of Mr. Monroe was liberal and satisfactory 
to men of all parties, excepting, perhaps, the ardent supporters of a sys- 
tem of internal improvements, who regretted the adherence of the presi- 
dent to a strict construction of the constitution on that subject. On many 
points the policy of Mr. Monroe's administration resembled that of the 
federal school established in the early stages of the government under the 
auspices of Washington and Hamilton. The perfecting of the establish- 
ment of a national bank, of the plan for the gradual discharge of the pub- 
lic debt, of the system of fortifying the coast and increasing the navy, 
and of encouraging by adequate protection the manufactures and arts of 
the country, formed essential parts of the policy referred to, adopted at the 
close of Mr. Madison's administration, and continued by that of Mr. Monroe. 
To these measures Mr. Monroe, finally, after long deliberation, and with 
the entire concurrence of his whole cabinet, sanctioned by repeated dem- 
onstrations of Congress, determined to add a system of internal improve- 
ment, thus yielding his own scruples to advance the interests of the na- 
tion. This was done on the 30th of April, 1824, when the act appropria- 
ting $30,000 for the survey of such routes for canals and public roads as 
the president might direct, received his sanction. 

Among the measures which distinguished the administration of Mr. 
Monroe, was the negotiation of the treaty which added Florida to the Uni- 
ten States. This cession secured to the nation all the territory north of 
Mexico ; and it was negotiated with great propriety by one v/ho had borne 
so conspicuous a part in the acquisition of Louisiana. 

In 1817 the president made a tour through a large portion of the north- 
ern and middle states, which elicited a general expression of kindness, 
respect, and courtesy from the people. 



122 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MONROE. 

Mr. Monroe was re-elected president in 1820, with more unanimity 
than any one since Washington, receiving every vote uf the electoral col- 
leges of the United States, except one, and ended his career in the ser- 
vice of the federal government on the 3d of March, 1825. He then retired 
to his residence in Loudon county, Virginia, where he was shortly after 
appointed a county magistrate, tlie duties of which office he continued to 
discharge until his departure for the city of New York. He was also ap- 
pointed curator of the university of Virginia; and in 1830, having been 
elected a member of the convention called to revise the constitution of 
that state, he was unanimously chosen to preside over its deliberations. 
Before the close of its labors, however, he was compelled by severe in- 
disposition to retire, and in the succeeding summer removed to New York, 
to take up his abode with his son-in-law, Mr. Samuel L. Gouverneur. 
There he remained, surrounded by filial solicitude and tenderness, until, on 
the fifty-fifth anniversary of the nation's birth (July 4, 1831), he termina- 
ted his earthly career, in the 72d year of his age ; furnishing another stri- 
king coincidence, which, as in the instance of the simultaneous deaths of 
Adams and Jefferson, on the same day, five years previous, afforded occa- 
sion for grave reflection, and seemed pregnant with some mysterious 
moral lesson to a nation whose attention was thus forcibly directed to the 
act which, while it gave it birth as an independent community, also served 
to mark the commencement of a new era in the history of the world. 

Mr. Monroe left only two children, both daughters, one the widow of 
George Hay, Esq., of Richmond, the other the wife of Samuel L. Gouv- 
erneur, Esq., of New York. Mrs. Monroe died but a short time before her 
venerable husband. 

Though in the course of his life he had received from the public treas- 
ury, for his services, $358,000, he retired from office deeply in debt. He 
was, however, relieved at last by the adjustment by Congress of his 
claims, founded chiefly on the disbursements made during the war. 

In his personal appearance Mr. Monroe was tall and well formed, being 
about six feet in stature, with light complexion, and blue eyes. His 
countenance had no indications of superior intellect, but an honesty and 
firmness of purpose which commanded respect, and gained favor and 
friendship. He was laborious and industrious, and doubtless compensated 
in some degree by diligence, for slowness of thought and want of imagi- 
nation. His talents, however, were respectable, and he was a fine speci- 
men of the old school of Virginia gentlemen, generous, hospitable, and 
devoted to his country, which he did not hesitate to serve to the utmost 
of his ability, through a long life, and his career was highly honorable, 
useful, and worthy of admiration. 




Ea^*-i)jTBalc"h. ftcrai aPaTntm^tyDuraTia. 



S. S. cAi^o/M 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 



When the constitution of the United States was formed, in 1787, and 
the question of its adoption was before the people, the opponents of a con- 
solidated government, and those who preferred the old confederation, rep- 
resented the executive established by the constitution, as the chief of 
an elective monarchy. Mr. Jefferson considered him a bad edition of a Po- 
lish king, as he expressed it. But no one apprehended any danger of the 
office of president ever becoming hereditary. It is, however, a curious 
circumstance, that the only one of the first five presidents of the United 
States who had a son, should have lived to see his eldest son elected to 
the presidency. It must not from this be supposed that the circumstances 
of the birth and family of John Quincy Adams had any influence in con- 
tributing to his elevation to the same high office which his father had 
previously filled. On the contrary, the jealousy of the American people 
on the subject of any supposed preference in consequence of family or 
rank, probably operated to the prejudice of Mr. Adams, and diminished 
the popular support which he would otherwise have received ; for no 
American was ever more fully qualified by talents and education for the 
various important stations which he has been called to fill, than the dis- 
tinguished statesman who is the subject of the present memoir. 

Born in the year 1767, on the 11th day of July, at the mansion of his 
father, John Adams, who then resided in Boston, although the family-seat 
was in the present town of Quincy, Massachiisetts, John Quincy Adams 
(who afterward became the sixth president of the United States) took the 
name of John Quincy, his great grandfather, who bore a distinguished part 
in the councils of the province, at the commencement of the eighteenth 
century.* 

In the very dawn of his existence the principles of American indepen- 
dence and freedom were instilled into the mind of the younger Adams. 

• A part of this sketch is an abstract of a memoir of Mr. Adams published in 1S28. 



124 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 

Both his father and mother were the most zealous promoters of the cause 
of their country in the struggle with Great Britain. When the father of 
Mr. Adams repaired to France as joint commissioner with Franklin and Lee, 
he was accompanied by his son John Quincy, then in his eleventh year. 
In that country he passed a year and a half with his father, and enjoyed 
the privilege of the daily intercourse and parental attentions of Doctor 
Franklin, whose kind notice of the young was a peculiar trait in his char- 
acter, and whose primitive simplicity of manners and methodical habits 
left a lasting impression on the mind of his youthful countryman. 

After a residence of about eighteen months in France, young Adams 
returned to America with his father, who assisted in forming a constitu- 
tion for Massachusetts, but was soon called upon again by Congress to 
repair to Europe, as a commissioner for negotiating treaties with Holland 
and other powers, but particularly with Great Britain, as soon as she was 
disposed to put an end to the war. 

He again took his son with him, and sailed in a French frigate, which 
in consequence of springing a dangerous leak, was compelled to put into 
Ferrol, in Spain. From that place Mr. Adams and his son travelled by 
land to Paris, where they arrived in January, 1780. For a few months 
Mr. Adams sent his son to school in Paris ; but in July, the same year, he 
took him with him to Holland, where he was called to negotiate a loan 
for the United States. He placed his son first in the public school of the 
city of Amsterdam, and afterward in the city university of Leyden. In 
July, 1781, Mr. Francis Dana (afterward chief-justice of the state of Mas- 
sachusetts), who had gone out with Mr. Adams as secretary of legation, 
received from the continental Congress the appointment of minister to the 
court of the empress of Russia, and John Quincy Adams was selected by 
Mr. Dana as a private secretary of this mission. After spending four- 
teen months with Mr. Dana, he left him to return through Sweden, Den- 
mark, Hamburg, and Bremen, to Holland, where his father had been pub- 
licly received as minister from the United States, and had concluded a 
commercial treaty with the republic of the Netherlands. He performed 
this journey during the winter of 1782-'3, being only sixteen years of age, 
without a companion. He reached the Hague in April, 1783, his father 
being at that time engaged at Paris in the negotiation of peace. From 
April to July his son remained at the Hague, under the care of Mr. Du- 
mas, a native of Switzerland, who then filled the office of an agent of the 
United States. The negotiations for peace being suspended in July, Mr, 
Adams's father repaired on business to Amsterdam ; and on his return to 
Paris he took his son with him. The definitive treaty of peace was 
signed in September, 1783, from which time till May, 1785, he was chiefly 
with his father in England, Holland, and France. 

It was at this period that he formed an acquaintance with Mr. .Tefferson, 
then residing in France as American minister. The intercourse of Mr. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 125 

Jefferson with his former colleague in Congress, the father of Mr. Adams 
was of an intimate and confidential kind, and led to a friendship for his 
son which, formed in early life, scarcely suffered an interruption from sub- 
sequent political dissensions, and revived with original strength during the 
last years of the life of this venerable statesman. 

Mr. Adams was, at the period last mentioned, about eighteen years of 
age. Born in the crisis of his country's fortunes, he had led a life of 
Avandering and vicissitude, unusual at any age. His education, in every- 
thing but the school of liberty, had been interrupted and irregular. He 
had seen much of the world — much of men — and had enjoyed but little 
leisure for books. Anxious to complete his education, and still more anx- 
ious to return to his native land, when his father was, in 1785, appointed 
minister to the court of St. James, his son, at that period of life when the 
pleasures and splendor of a city like London are most calculated to fasci- 
nate and mislead, asked permission of his father to go back to his native 
shores. This he accordingly did. On his return to America he became 
a member of the ancient college of Harvard, at Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, where he graduated in July, 1787. 

On leaving college, Mr. Adams entered the office of Theophilus Par- 
sons, afterward chief justice of the state, as a student of law, at Newbu- 
ryport. On a visit of General Washington to that town, in 1789, Mr. 
Parsons, being chosen by his fellow-citizens to be the medium of expres- 
sing their sentiments to the general, called upon his pupils each to pre- 
pare an address. This call was obeyed by Mr. Adams, and his address 
was delivered by Mr. Parsons. 

After completing his law studies, at Newburyport, Mr. Adams removed 
to Boston, with view of commencing the practice of his profession at the 
bar. His time not being fully occupied, Mr. Adams employed his leisure 
hours in speculations upon the great political questions of the day. 

In April, 1793, on the first intimation that war between Great Britain 
and France had been declared, Mr. Adams published a short series of 
papers, the object of which was, to prove that the duty and interest of the 
United States required them to remain neutral in the contest. These 
papers were published before General Washington's proclamation of 
neutrality, and without any knowledge that a proclamation would be 
issued. The opinions they expressed were in opposition to the views 
generally prevailing, that the treaty of alliance of 1778 obliged us to take 
part in the wars of France. But the proclamation of neutrality by Gen- 
eral AVashington, sanctioned by all his cabinet, including Mr. Jefferson, 
was shortly made public, and confirmed the justice of the views Avhich 
Mr. Adams had been (it is believed) the first to express before the public 
on this new and difficult topic of national law. 

In the winter of 1793 and 1794, the inflammatory appeals of the French 
minister to the United States, Mr. Genet, caused much excitement in the 



126 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 

public mind. Among those who co-operated in support of the admin- 
istration of Washington in resisting Mr, Genet, none was more conspicu- 
ous than Mr. Adams, whose essays in favor of neutrality were read and 
admired throughout the country. 

His reputation was soon established, as an American statesman and 
political writer. Before his retirement from the department of state, Mr. 
Jefferson recommended him to General Washington, as a proper person 
to be introduced into the public service of the country. The acquaintance 
between Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams which had been formed in France, 
had lately been renewed, on occasion of a visit to Philadelphia in 1792 ; 
and the promptitude and ability with which he had seconded the efforts 
of the secretary of state in enforcing neutrality, no doubt led Mr. Jeffer- 
son thus to recommend him to General Washington. 

The publications of Mr. Adams above alluded to, had attracted the at- 
tention of General Washington. He had in private expressed the high- 
est opinion of them, and had made particular inquiries with respect to 
their author. Thus honorably identified, at the early age of twenty-seven, 
with the first great and decisive step of the foreign policy of the United 
States, and thus early attracting the notice, and enjoying the confidence 
of Washington, Mr. Adams was, in May, 1794, appointed minister resi- 
dent to the Netherlands, an office corresponding in rank and salary with 
that of a charge d'afl^aires at the present day. The father of Mr. Adams 
was at this time vice-president of the United States ; but the appointment 
of his son was made by General Washington, unexpectedly to the vice- 
president, and without any previous intimation that it would take place. 

Mr. Adams remained at his post in Holland about two years. He was 
an attentive observer of the great events then occurring in Europe, and 
his official correspondence with the government was regarded by General 
Washington as of the highest importance. 

Toward the close of General Washington's administration, he appointed 
Mr. Adams minister plenipotentiary to Portugal. On his way from the 
Hague to Lisbon, he received a new commission, changing his destination 
to Berlin. This latter appointment was made by Mr. Adams's father, then 
president of the United States, and in a manner highly honorable to the 
restraint of his parental feelings, in the discharge of an act of public duty. 
Although Mr. Adams's appointment to Portugal was made by General 
Washington, and President Adams did no more than propose his transfer 
to Berlin, yet feelings of delicacy led him to hesitate, before he took 
even this step. He consulted his predecessor and friend, then retired 
from office, and placed in a situation beyond the reach of any of the mo- 
tives which can possibly prejudice the minds of men in power. The fol- 
lowing letter from General Washington, is the reply to President Adams's 
inquiry, and will ever remain an honorable testimony to the character of 
Mr. Adams : — 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 127 

" Monday, Fehruary 20, 1797. 

" Dear Sir : I thank you for giving me a perusal of the enclosed. The 
sentiments do honor to the head and heart of the writer ; and if my wishes 
would be of any avail, they should go to you in a strong hope that you 
will not withhold merited promotion from John Q. Adams because he is 
your son. For, without intending to compliment the father or the mother, 
or to censure any others, I give it as my decided opinion, that Mr. Adams 
is the most valuable public character we have abroad ; and that there re- 
mains no doubt in my mind, that he will prove himself to be the ablest of 
all our diplomatic corps. If he was now to be brought into that line, or 
into any other public walk, I could not, upon the principle which has reg- 
ulated my own conduct, disapprove of the caution which is hinted at in 
the letter. But he is already entered ; the public, more and more, as he 
is known, are appreciating his talents and worth ; and his country would 
sustain a loss, if these were to be checked by over-delicacy on your part. 
" With sincere esteem, and affectionate regard, 

" I am ever yours, 

" Gkorge Washington." 

The principal object of Mr. Adams's mission to Berlin was effected by 
the conclusion of a treaty of commerce with Prussia. He remained at 
that court till the spring of 1801, when he was recalled by his father, and 
returned to America. During the last year of his residence in Prussia, 
he made an excursion into the province of Silesia, which he described in 
a series of letters that were afterward collected and published in a volume, 
and have been translated into French and German, and extensively circu- 
lated in Europe. In March, 1798, while he was at Berlin, he was ap- 
pointed by the president and senate, commissioner to renew the treaty 
with Sweden. 

The advantages enjoyed by Mr. Adams, during his residence on the 
continent of Europe, from 1794 to 1801, he did not fail to improve, and 
they were of great importance in extending his political knowledge, and 
in their influence upon his character and feelings. He contemplated with 
the eye of a careful observer the great movements in the political world 
which were then taking place, and which included many of the most im- 
portant events of the French revolution. A combination of peculiar cir- 
cumstances enabled him to hold an important and tridy American course 
between the violent extremes to which public opinion in America ran, on 
the great question of our foreign relations. It was also fortunate that he 
was absent from the country during the period when domestic parties 
were organized and arrayed against each other. His situation secured 
him from the necessity of taking part in those political contentions in 
which he must either have been placed in the painful position of acting 
with the party opposed to his father, or he would have been obliged to 
encounter the natural imputation of being biased in support of him by 



128 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 

filial attachment. From this alternative Mr. Adams was spared by his 
residence abroad during the whole period in which our domestic parties 
were acquiring their organization ; and he returned to his native land a 
stranger to local parties, and a friend to his country. 

In 1802, Mr. Adams was elected to the senate of Massachusetts from 
the district of Boston ; and signalized that fearless independence which 
has ever characterized his political course, by his strong, though ineffec- 
tual opposition to a powerful combination of banking interests, of which 
the centre was placed among his immediate constituents. 

In 1803, he was elected by the legislature of Massachusetts, a senator 
of the United States. There was a federal majority in that body, but Mr. 
Adams was not elected by a party vote. He was considered a moderate 
federalist, but, when elected, was unpledged, either as to opposition or 
support, to any men or measures other than those which his own sense of 
duty should dictate to him to be supported or opposed. 

His conduct in the United States senate was such as might have 
been expected from his position. He neither had principles to permit, 
nor passions to drive him into indiscriminate opposition or blind support. 
He supported the administration of Mr. Jefferson in every measure which 
his judgment approved. With the democratic party in the senate he vo- 
ted for the embargo recommended by Mr. Jefferson, believing that the hos- 
tile decrees of France and England against American commerce called for 
retaliatory or restrictive measures. For his course in this particular, Mr. 
Adams was censured by the legislature of Massachusetts, in a series of 
resolutions passed by that body, which also, in May, 1808, elected Mr. 
Lloyd as senator from the period of the expiration of Mr. Adams's term. 
Not choosing to represent constituents who had lost their confidence in 
him, Mr. Adams resigned his place in the senate of the United States. 

The support of a man holding the position and possessing the talents 
of Mr. Adams, was peculiarly acceptable to the administration of Mr. Jef- 
ferson, at a crisis when a defection in the ranks of the democratic party 
wore an alarming aspect to those in power. His course was, however, 
severely censured by his former political friends, the federalists of Mas- 
sachusetts, who considered his support of the embargo, and other meas- 
ures of Mr. Jefferson's administration, as an act of separation from the 
federal party. His father had previously indicated similar views to those 
of his son, and finally became a zealous supporter of democratic men and 
measures. 

Previous to retiring from the senate of the United States, namely, in 
1806, Mr. Adams was called to the chair of rhetoric and oratory in Har- 
vard college, and delivered a course of lectures on the art of speaking 
well ; an important art to the youth of a free country. 

But Mr. Adams was not destined to remain long in retirement. Soon 
after the accession of Mr. Madison to the presidency, he appointed Mr. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 129 

Adams, with the senate's concurrence, in June, 1809, minister plenipo- 
tentiary to the court of the emperor of Russia. He was the first minister 
from the United States to that country. Mr. Jefferson, perceiving the 
importance to the United States of both political amity and commercial 
intercourse with the great Russian empire, sent Levett Harris as American 
consul to St. Petersburg, through whom a correspondence ensued between 
the Russian emperor and the American president, which began the good 
relations that have subsisted without interruption between the two coun- 
tries. One of the last acts of Mr. Jefferson's administration was to nomi- 
nate an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Russia, whom 
the senate rejected. 

The emperor Alexander, who was then on the throne of Russia, 
was one of the most remarkable men of the age ; well educated, 
well informed, liberal, and generous, he regarded the United States 
with such kindness that, on the most despotic throne in the old world, 
he freely expressed his admiration of the republican institutions of the 
new.* 

The intelligence of the declaration of war by the United States against 
Great Britain, was known in Russia in September, 1812. Mr. Adams 
had the good fortune to acquire the confidence of the emperor, who ad- 
mitted him to a degree of intimacy rarely enjoyed with despotic monarchs, 
even by their own ministers. On the 20th of September, 1812, the Rus- 
sian minister Romanzoff informed Mr. Adams that, having made peace 
with Great Britain, the emperor was much concerned and disappointed to 
find the commercial benefits which he expected his subjects would derive 
from that event, defeated and l6st by the war between the United States 
and Great Britain. He therefore suggested a settlement of the difficulties 
by mediation, offering himself to act as mediator, in terms of great good- 
will, which Mr. Adams met and answered with corresponding cordiality. 
In the course of his conversation with the Russian minister, the Ameri- 
can envoy stated that he knew his government engaged in the war with 
reluctance ; that it would be highly injurious, both to the United States 
and to England ; that he could see no good result as likely to arise from 
it to any one. The minister from Russia to the United States was di- 
rected to proffer the mediation to the American government, which was 
formally accepted in March, 1813, by the latter, but it was declined by the 
British government. It was unquestionably owing to the confidential re- 
lation between Mr. Adams and the emperor, that the mediation of Russia 
was tendered ; and though it was declined by England, the mediation pro- 
duced an offer from that country to treat directly with the United States, 
and thus led to peace. 

It was for this reason that Mr. Adams was placed at the head of the 
five commissioners by whom the treaty of peace was negotiated at Ghent, 
q * Ingersoll. 



130 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 

in 1814 ; his associates on that commission being James A. Bayard, 
Henry Clay, Jonathan RusselJ and Albert Gallatin. 

The skill with which that negotiation was conducted, is well known. 
Mr. Adams bore a full part in its counsels and labors ; and a proportion- 
ate share of the credit is due to him for that cogency and skill which 
drew from the marquis of Wellesley, in the British house of lords, the 
declaration, that " in his opinion the American commissioners had shown 
the most astonishing superiority over the British, during the whole of the 
correspondence." 

This tribute is the more honorable to Mr. Adams and his colleagues, 
from the circumstance that, on every important point, the British commis- 
sioners received special instructions from the ministry at London, direct- 
ing the terms in which the American envoys were to be answered. 

Having borne this distinguished part, in bringing the war to a close by 
an honorable peace, Mr. Adams was employed, in conjunction with 
Messrs. Clay and Gallatin, in negotiating a convention of commerce with 
Great Britain, on the basis of which our commercial intercourse with that 
country has since been conducted. 

On the 28th of February, 1815, Mr. Madison gave a further proof of 
his confidence in Mr. Adams, by appointing him (with the consent of the 
senate) minister to Great Britain, and he continued to represent the United 
States at that court until the accession of Mr. Monroe to the presidency, 
in March, 1817. 

In the formation of his cabinet, Mr. Monroe consulted with several of 
the most distinguished of his friends, among others with General Jack- 
son, to whom he wrote as follows : " I Shall take a person for the de- 
partment of state from the eastward ; and Mr. Adams's long service in 
our diplomatic concerns appearing to entitle him to the preference, sup- 
ported by his acknowledged talents and integrity, his nomination will go to 
the senate." To this General Jackson replied : " I have no hesitation in 
saying, you have made the best selection to fill the department of state 
that could be made. Mr. Adams in the hour of difficulty will be an able 
helpmate, and I am convinced his appointment will afford general satis- 
faction." 

In pursuance of the above intimation of Mr. Monroe, Mr. Adams was 
called home from England, and appointed secretary of state in March, 
1817. On this arduous office he entered with the general approbation of 
the people. During the eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration, Mr. 
Adams remained in the department of state, retaining the entire confi- 
dence of Mr. Monroe, and acquiring that of his colleagues in the cabinet. 
In reference to all questions of the foreign relations of the country, he 
was the influential member of the government ; and is, consequently, more 
than any other individual connected with the executive, entitled to the credit 
of the measures which, during Mr. Monroe's administration, were adopted 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 131 

in reference to the foreign policy of the government. One of the most im- 
portant of these measures was the recognition of the independence of the 
new republics of Spanish America. The credit of first effectually propo- 
sing that measure in the house of representatives is due to Mr. Clay, 
while speaker of that body ; that of choosing the propitious moment when 
it could be proposed with the unanimous consent of Congress, and the 
nation, belongs to Mr. Adams. Nor is he entitled to less credit for the 
successful termination of our differences with Spain. A controversy of 
thirty years' standing, which had resisted the skill of every preceding 
administration of the government, was brought to an honorable close. In- 
demnity was procured for our merchants, and East and West Florida ad- 
ded to our republic. Next to the purchase of Louisiana, the acquisition 
of Florida may be viewed as one of the most important measures in our 
history as a nation. Among his reports while secretary of state, may be 
mentioned that on weights and measures, made to the United States sen- 
ate in 1821, in conformity with a resolution of that body, passed in 1817. 
This report is distinguished for its ability and research. 

On every important occasion and question that arose during Mr. Mon- 
roe's administration, the voice of Mr. Adams was for his country, for 
mild councils, and for union. In the agitation of the Missouri question, 
his influence was exerted for conciliation. He believed that by the con- 
sfltution and the treaty of cession of 1803, Congress was barred from 
adopting the proposed restrictions on the admission of Missouri. Of in- 
ternal improvement by roads and canals, he was ever the friend, and 
moved in the senate of the United States the first project of their system- 
atic construction. 

When the question of a successor to Mr. Monroe in the presidency be- 
came the subject of agitation, the claims of Mr. Adams to that high office 
were admitted to be strong and decided, by a large portion of his coim- 
trymen. His elevation was desired by a numerous body of calm, re- 
flecting men, throughout the Union, who desired to see the government 
administered with the ability and integrity which belonged, as they knew, 
to the character of Mr. Adams. The other rival candidates for the presi- 
dency, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay, also pre- 
sented severally strong claims for the support of the people. Of these 
several candidates, Mr. Adams was the only one who represented the 
non-slaveholding interest, and he was the second choice of an immense 
proportion of the people, who, for various causes, preferred one of the 
other candidates. 

In consequence of the number in nomination for president, no choice 
was effected by the electoral colleges, and neither candidate approached 
nearer than within thirty-two votes of a majority. General Jackson re- 
ceived 99 votes, Mr. Adams 84, Mr. Crawford 41, and Mr. Clay 37. For 
the vice-presidency, John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, received 182 



132 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 

votes, and was consequently elected. The choice of the president, ac 
cording to constitutional provisions, was referred to the house of repre- 
sentatives, and, contrary to general expectation, an election was made on 
the first ballot ; Mr. Adams having received the votes of thirteen states, 
General Jackson seven states, and Mr. Crawford four states. In this 
election by the house, Mr. Clay and his friends having voted for Mr. Ad- 
ams, great indignation was expressed by the supporters of General Jack- 
son, but the friends of Mr. Crawford, generally, at first appeared satisfied 
with the result, as they preferred Mr. Adams to General Jackson, and the 
health of Mr. Crawford was then so precarious as to render him nearly, if 
not quite, incompetent for the office. 

A committee of the house was appointed to wait on Mr. Adams and no- 
tify him of his election to the presidency ; to this notification he made the 
following reply : — 

" Gentlemen : In receiving this testimonial from the representatives 
of the people, and states of this Union, I am deeply sensible to the cir- 
cumstances under which it has been given. All my predecessors in the 
high station to which the favor of the house now calls me, have been hon- 
ored with majorities of the electoral voices in their primary colleges. It 
has been my fortune to be placed, by the divisions of sentiment prevailing 
among our countrymen on this occasion, in competition, friendly and hon- 
orable, with three of my fellow-citizens, all justly enjoying, in an eminent 
degree, the public favor ; and of whose worth, talents, and services, no 
one entertains a higher and more respectful sense than myself. The 
names of two of them were, in the fulfilment of the provisions of the 
constitution, presented to the selection of the house, in concurrence with 
my own ; names closely associated with the glory of the nation, and one 
of them further recommended by a larger majority of the primary electo- 
ral suffrages than mine. 

" In this state of things, could my refusal to accept the trust thus dele- 
gated to me, give an immediate opportunity to the people to form and to 
express with a nearer approach to unanimity, the object of their prefer- 
ence, I should not hesitate to decline the acceptance of this eminent 
charge, and to submit the decision of this momentous question again to 
their determination. But the constitution itself has not so disposed of the 
contingency which would arise in the event of my refusal ; I shall, there- 
fore, repair to the post assigned me by the call of my country signified 
through her constitutional organs ; oppressed with the magnitude of the 
task before me, but cheered with the hope of that generous support from 
my fellow-citizens which, in the vicissitudes of a life devoted to their ser- 
vice, has never failed to sustain me — confident in the trust, that the wis- 
dom of the legislative councils will guide and direct me in the path of my 
official duty, and relying, above all, upon the superintending providence of 
that Being, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN Q. ADAMS. 133 

" Gentlemen, I pray you to make acceptable to the house the assurance 
of my profound gratitude for their confidence, and to accept yourselves my 
thanks for the friendly terms in which you hav^e communicated to me their 
decision." 

The administration of Mr. Adams as president of the United States, 
commenced on the 4th of March, 1825, and continued four years. A com- 
bination having taken place immediately after the election, of a majority of 
the friends of Mr. Crawford with those of General Jackson, it was soon appa- 
rent that the new administration was destined to meet with a systematic 
and violent opposition. Every effort on the part of Mr. Adams to con- 
ciliate his opponents, and to conduct the public affairs with integrity and 
usefulness, proved ineffectual to turn the torrent of popular opinion which 
set steadily against him. In the third year of his term the administration 
was in the minority in both branches of Congress, and the opposition be- 
ing concentrated on General Jackson as a candidate for president, he was 
in 1828 elected, by a large majority, over Mr. Adams. 

In March, 1829, Mr. Adams retired to private life, carrying with him 
the esteem of his political friends, and the respect of his opponents, who 
generally gave him the credit of good intentions, however they might have 
differed with him in his views of public policy. While holding the high 
office of president, he uniformly declined the exercise of a proscriptive 
spirit toward those of his political opponents whom he found in office ; 
magnanimously conceding to all the right of exercising their own free will 
in the choice of rulers, and in supporting or opposing the administration. 

After the inauguration of his successor. General Jackson, Mr. Adams 
continued a short time at Washington city. He then repaired to his family 
mansion, and the scenes of his early youth, at Quincy, near Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts, where, in the possession of a competent fortune, and in the 
enjoyment of the pleasures of domestic life with his family, he might have 
expected to pass the remainder of his days. But the people of his own 
immediate neighborhood were not willing to allow him to remain long in 
retirement. In 1830 he was elected to represent the district in which he 
resided, in the Congress of the United States, and the following year, 
namely, in December, 1831, he took his seat in the house of representa- 
tives at Washington city, being then in the 65th year of his age, and hav- 
ing already passed about forty years in the public service. 

In the national legislature, he took and mainlined the stand to which 
his eminent talents and distinguished services entitled him. The confi- 
dence of his constituents, was manifested by continued re-elections to the 
house of representatives, of which he was a constant member until his 
death, a period of more than sixteen years. 

His reports as chairman of committees on various subjects, particularly 
on those of manufactures and finance, are among the ablest papers to be 
found among the national records. He distinguished himself especially 



134 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF J. Q. ADAMS. 

on the organization of the twenty-sixth Congress, in December, 1839, 
when difficulties of a novel character occurred, in consequence of dispu- 
ted seats from the state of New Jersey, which prevented for many days 
the choice of a speaker. On that occasion Mr. Adams was chosen, by 
unanimous consent, chairman of the house while it was in a state of con- 
fusion and disorder. By his skill and influence, he was enabled to calm 
the turbulent elements of a disorganized house, and to bring about a settle- 
ment of the difficulties which threatened the dissolution of the government. 

Perhaps the most striking feature of Mr. Adams's career as a member 
of the house of representatives, was his firm adherence to the right of the 
people to petition Congress, and to be heard through their representatives, 
on any subject whatsoever. He look an active part in debate, on nearly 
every topic of public interest, and his speeches were frequently marked 
with the most fervid eloquence. 

The private character of Mr. Adams was always above reproach, in 
his intercourse with his fellow-men, and in all the various duties of a long 
life. Without any uncommon professions, he uniformly evinced great 
respect for the Christian religion, and, like his father, gave a preference 
to the doctrines of the unitarian church. 

In a biographical sketch of Mr. Adams, written for the Statesman's 
Manual, and published in 1846, we made use of the following words: 
" The subject of this memoir is still found at his post in the public ser- 
vice, where, like the earl of Chatham, it may be expected his mortal ca- 
reer will finally close." 

What was then a thought, in advance of a probable result, became au 
historical fact in 1848. On the twenty-second of February (the birthday 
of Washington), in that year Mr. Adams was prostrated by paralysis, 
while in his seat in the house of representatives, and yielded up his spirit 
to his Maker on the following day (February 23, 1848), being then in 
his eighty-first year. He died in the speaker's room in the capitol, and 
his last words were, " This is the last of earth." A committee of mem- 
bers of Congress accompanied his remains to the family burying-ground 
at Quincy, due honors being paid to his memory in the principal cities and 
towns, through which the corpse was carried to its final resting-place. 

Mr. Adams was of middle stature, and full person, his eyes dark and 
piercing, and beaming with intelligence. He always led an active life, 
and enjoyed good health to an advanced age, his health being promoted, 
doubtless, by his early rising and bodily exercise. His mind was highly 
cultivated, and he was considered one of the most accomplished scholars 
and statesmen in America. 

Mr. Adams, in May, 1797, was married to Louisa Catherine, daughter 
of Joshua Johnson, Esq., of Maryland, who then resided in London. By 
this lady, who survives him, he had four children, three sons and one 
daughter, of whom one only, Charles F. Adams of Boston, is now living. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OF 



ANDREW JACKSON. 



The ancestors of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United 
States, were among the emigrants from Scotland to the province of Ul- 
ster, in Ireland, at a period when it was the policy. of the English gov- 
ernment to promote the colonization of settlers from England and Scotland 
on the confiscated lands of the Irish. The family of Jackson was therefore 
of Scottish origin ; and they were attached to the presbyterian church, 
Hugh Jackson, the grandfather of the subject of the present sketch, was a 
linen draper, near Carrickfergus, in Ireland. His four sons were respectable 
farmers ; of whom Andrew, the youngest, married Elizabeth Hutchinson, 
and had in Ireland two sons, Hugh and Robert. The unfortunate condi- 
tion of his native country induced him to dispose of his farm, and in 1765, 
with his wife and children, to emigrate to America, and settle in South 
Carolina. Samuel Jackson, a son of another of the brothers, at a subse- 
quent period, emigrated to Pennsylvania, and became a citizen of Phila- 
delphia, 

Three of the neighbors of Andrew Jackson, named Crawford, emigra- 
ted to America with him, and the four emigrants purchased lands and set- 
tled in the Waxhaw settlement, South Carolina, near the line of North 
Carolina. 

On this plantation of his father, at Waxhaw settlement, Andrew Jackson, 
the subject of this memoir, was born, on the 15th of March, 1767. His 
father died about the time of his birth, leaving his farm to his widow, and 
his name to his infant son. 

Left with three young sons, and moderate means Mrs. Jackson gave 
her two oldest a common school education, while the youngest she de- 
sired to see prepared for the ministry, and, at a proper age, placed him 
under the tuition of Mr. Humphries, principal of ihe Waxhaw academy, 
where he made considerable progress in his studies, including latin and 



136 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

Greek, until interrupted by the events of the war of the revolution. Al- 
though but about eight years of age, when the first conflicts between the 
British and Americans took place, Andrew Jackson soon became accus- 
tomed to the stirring scenes around him, of the friends and neighbors of 
his mother training themselves for battle, and preparing to defend their 
homes from the attacks and ravages of the invading foe. 

The British commanding officers in America having resolved to carry the 
war into the southern states ; Savannah, in Georgia, was taken in 1778, and 
South Carolina invaded in the spring of 1779. The militia were summoned 
to the field to repel them, and Hugh Jackson, the oldest brother of An- 
drew, lost his life in the fatigues of the service. A battle took place at 
the Waxhaw settlement, between the British and Americans, in May, 
1780, when 113 Americans were killed, and 150 wounded. Considera- 
ble ammunition and stores fell into the hands of the enemy. In the Wax- 
haw meetinghouse, where the wounded were carried, Andrew Jackson, 
then thirteen years of age, first saw the horrors of war. The mangled 
bodies of his countrymen confirmed the impression made upon his youth- 
ful mind by the tales of English oppression and cruelty which he had so 
often heard from his mother and kindred, while relating scenes of tyranny 
in Ireland, from which his father had fled to find a retreat in America.* 

In the summer of 1780, Andrew Jackson, being then but little more 
than thirteen years of age, in company with his brother Robert, joined a 
corps of volunteers, under the command of Colonel Davie, to attempt the 
defence of that part of the country against a body of British troops and 
tories who had penetrated into the interior of the Carolinas. Davie's 
corps was attached to General Sumter's brigade, and an action took place 
on the 6th of August, 1780, between the American troops and the British 
and tories, at a place called Hanging Rock. The corps of Davie, in which 
the young Jacksons fought, particularly distinguished itself, and suff"ered 
heavy loss. 

Not being regularly attached to any military corps, on account of their 
youth, Robert and Andrew Jackson did not participate in many of the numer- 
ous affairs in which the Americans were engaged with the British during 
their long campaign in the Carolinas. They retired with their mother into 
North Carolina for some time, leaving their home on the approach of the 
British army in that quarter. In 1781, both of the boys were taken pris- 
oners by a party of dragoons. While a prisoner, Andrew Jackson was 
ordered by a British officer to clean his muddy boots, which the young 
soldier refusing, he received a wound with a sword from the officer, and the 
wound left a scar which Jackson carried with him to his grave. His brother 
Robert, for a similar offence, received a wound on his head, from the effects 
of which he never recovered. The brothers were retained some time in 

• For the facts in the first part of this memoir, we are indebted principally to Kendall's 
Life of Jackson. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 137 

captivity, at. Camden, where their sufferings were great from their wounds, 
and the small-pox, then prevalent among the prisoners. Being finally re- 
leased, by exchange, the Jacksons, accompanied by their mother, returned 
home to the Waxhaw settlement, where Robert died in two days after- 
ward. By kind nursing and the care of a physician, Andrew finally recov- 
ered from a dangerous sickness. His mother died soon after this, from 
the effects of a fever taken on board the prison-ship at Charleston, whither 
she went on an adventure of kindness and mercy, for the relief of some of 
her relatives and friends confined on board of that vessel. Thus every 
member of the Jackson family which came from Ireland to America to 
escape British oppression, perished through the effects of the same 
oppression in America. The only remnant of the family was an Ameri- 
can-bom son, who, through many perils, lived to be the avenger of his 
race. 

At the close of the war of the revolution, Andrew Jackson was left 
alone in the world, his own master, with some little property, but without 
the benefit of parental counsel or restraint. At first associating with idle 
young men, he imbibed loose and extravagant habits, which he suddenly 
determined to reform. Changing his course of life, he commenced the 
study of law, at Salisbury, North Carolina, with Spruce M'Cay, Esq., then 
an eminent counsellor, and subsequently a judge of distinction. This was 
in the winter of 1784, when he was in his eighteenth year. He finished 
his studies under Colonel Stokes, and in a little more than two years he 
was licensed to practise law. Soon after this, without solicitation on his 
part, he received from the governor of North Carolina the appointment of 
solicitor for the western district of that state, embracing the present state 
of Tennessee. 

At the age of twenty-one, in 1788, Andrew Jackson, accompanied by 
Judge McNairy, crossed the mountains to take up his abode in Tennes- 
see, then the western district of North Carolina. For several months he 
resided at Jonesborough, then the principal seat of justice in that district. 
In 1789, he first visited the infant settlements on the Cumberland river, 
near the present site of Nashville. The settlers had at this time many 
difiiculties with the Indians, who were then numerous and hostile to the 
whites. During this perilous period, Jackson performed twenty-two jour- 
neys across the wilderness of two hundred miles, then intervening between 
Jonesborough and the Cumberland settlements. He was frequently under 
arms, with other settlers, to protect parties of emigrants from the attacks 
of the Indians. He was also engaged in several expeditions against the 
Indians, in one of which, in 1794, the native town of Nickajack, near the 
Tennessee river, was destroyed. By his gallantry in these affairs, Jack- 
son became well known to the Indians, who gave him the names of 
" Sharp Knife" and "Pointed Arrow." He gained equally their respect 
and that of his companions, the hardy settlers of Tennessee. 



138 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

Having determined to malve the neighborhood of Nashville his perma- 
nent home, Jackson, with his friend Judge Overton, became boarders in 
the family of Mrs. Donelson, the widow of Colonel John Donelson, an 
emigrant from Virginia. Mrs. Rachel Robards, her daughter, who after- 
ward became the wife of Jackson, was then living with her mother. This 
lady was celebrated for her beauty, affability, and other attractions. Her 
husband. Captain Robards, was a man of dissolute habits and jealous dis- 
position. A separation took place, and Robards applied to the legislature 
of Virginia for a divorce ; soon after, intelligence was received that his 
petition had been granted. Mrs. Robards was then at Natchez, on the 
Mississippi, and Jackson, considering that she was free to form a new 
connexion, in the summer of 1791 went down to Natchez, paid her his 
addresses, and was accepted. In the fall they were married, and returned 
to the Cumberland, where they were cordially received by their mutual 
friends. 

In December, 1793, Jackson learned, for the first time, that the act of 
the Virginia legislature did not grant a divorce, but only authorized a suit 
for divorce in a Kentucky court, which had just been brought to a success- 
ful issue. Surprised and mortified at this information, on his return to 
Nashville, in January, 1794, he took out a license, and was again regularly 
married. The conduct of Jackson in this affair was. considered, by those 
familiar with the circumstances, correct and honorable, and perfectly con- 
sistent with true morality. His friend and confidential associate remarks : 
" In his singularly delicate sense of honor, and in what I thought his 
chivalrous conception of the female sex, it occurred to me that he was 
distinguished from every other person with whom I was acquainted." 

Jackson, after his marriage, applied himself with renewed diligence to 
his profession in the practice of the law. Circumstances connected with 
his professional business required the exercise of his firmness of character 
and courage, in no ordinary degree. There had been a combination of 
debtors against him, as he was employed by creditors for the collection of 
claims, which he succeeded in breaking down, but not without making bit- 
ter enemies. Bullies were stimulated to attack and insult him, and thus 
brought him into several personal contests, which generally ended in a 
severe punishment of the aggressors, by th6 bold and fearless Jackson. 

In 1795, the people of Tennessee elected delegates to a convention for 
the formation of a state constitution, preparatory to admission into the 
Union, Of that convention Jackson was chosen a member by his neigh- 
bors, and took an active part in the formation of the constitution. The 
convention sat at Knoxville from the 11th of January to the 6th of Febru- 
ary, 1796, and Tennessee was admitted into the Union as a state, by act 
of Congress, on the 1st of June, the same year. Jackson was chosen the 
first representative from the new state in Congress, and took his seat in 
the house on the 5th of December, 1796. His term expired on the 3d 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. ^39 

of March following, and he was prevented from continuing longer in that 
body, being elected by the legislature of Tennessee to the senate of the 
United States, where he took his seat on the 22d of November, 1797, be- 
ing then only a few months over thirty years of age. He appears not to 
have been ambitious or anxious for political distinction at that time, for, 
after serving one session, he resigned his seat in the senate. During his 
short career in Congress, it is believed that he made no speeches ; but in 
his votes he acted with the democratic party, opposing the administration 
of Washington at its close, and subsequently that of John Adams. While 
a member of the house, he was one of a minority of twelve democrats, 
among whom were Edward Livingston, Nathaniel Macon, and William B. 
Giles, who voted against an answer to Washington's last speech to Con- 
gress ; because that answer expressly approved of the measures of Wash- 
ington's administration, some of which were condemned by the democratic 
party. The state gave her first vote for president to Mr. Jeflerson in 1 796, 
which vote she repeated in 1800. In the political revolution which ele- 
vated Mr. Jefferson to the presidency, Jackson participated, and acted with 
the friends of Mr. Jefferson ; but little effort was required, however, to 
secure the vote for the democratic candidates, in a state so uniformly de- 
voted to that party as Tennessee. 

At this period, the popularity of Jackson in Tennessee was equal, if it 
did not exceed that of any other citizen of .the state. Soon after his resig- 
nation as senator, the legislature again honored him by conferring upon him 
the appointment of judge of the supreme court of the state. This office he 
accepted, and for a time performed the duties of the station ; but, owing 
to ill health, he determined to resign and retire to private life. This in- 
tention he was induced to defer for the present, in consequence of remon- 
strances from members of the legislature and others, who entreated him to 
remain upon the bench. 

The circumstances in which Jackson was placed, and his course in 
several public affairs, occasioned a misunderstanding between him and 
other leading men in Tennessee. Among those who became his enemies, 
were Judge McNairy and Governor Sevier. A personal quarrel with the 
latter occasioned a challenge from Judge Jackson,, which was accepted by 
the governor, and the parties, without any formal arrangement, met on 
horseback, each armed with a brace of pistols, the governor having also a 
sword, while Jackson had a cane, which he carried as a spear. Putting 
spurs to his horse, he charged upon his antagonist in a bold and unexpected 
manner, and the governor dismounted to avoid the shock. The inter- 
ference of the governor's attendants prevented any serious mischief, and 
by the intercession of mutual friends further hostile intentions were aban- 
do'ned. The affair, however, occasioned sundry angry publications by the 
friends of the respective parties, which show the peculiar state of society 



140 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

then existing in the frontier settlements, where men holding the highest 
public stations were engaged in personal rencounters. 

Previous to his affair with Governor Sevier, Jackson was appointed 
major-general of the militia of the state, viz., in 1802. His competitor 
was John Sevier, who was then also a candidate for governor. The votes 
of the officers by whom the appointment of general was made being equal- 
ly divided, the decision devolved on Governor Roane, who gave it in favor 
of Jackson. 

On the purchase of Louisiana from France, in 1803, by the United. 
States, there were apprehensions of a difficulty with Spain, when the 
Americans should take possession of the territory. The Tennessee mili- 
tia were called upon for aid in case of need, and by request of the secre- 
tary of war. General Jackson caused boats to be prepared to transport the 
troops to New Orleans ; but neither the boats, nor his own proffered ser- 
vices, were required, as the Spaniards made no resistance to the peaceful 
transfer and occupation of Louisiana. 

In 1804, General Jackson, having served six years on the bench, re- 
signed his office of judge of the supreme court. His biographer and 
friend, Mr. Kendall, remarks, that he " was not made for what is usually 
called a first-rate lawyer. His mode of reasoning would not permit him 
to seek for justice through a labyrinth of technicalities and special plead- 
ing. Yet few, if any, exceeded him in seizing on the strong points of a 
case, and with vigor and clearness applying to them the great principles 
of law. As a lawyer, in criminal prosecutions, the case of his client always 
became his own, and he was considered one of the most eloquent and 
effective among his contemporaries. As a judge, his opinions were always 
clear, short, and to the point, aiming at justice, without the affectation of 
eloquence, or of superior learning. His retirement from the bench grati- 
fied only those who feared his justice, while it was deeply regretted by a 
large majority of the community." 

After his resignation as judge. General Jackson found that retirement 
which he had long desired. Having acquired a moderate fortune, he took 
up his residence on his plantation on the banks of the Cumberland, near 
Nashville, and not far from that which he subsequently occupied under 
the name of the Hermitage. His time was now devoted to the pursuits 
of agriculture, in one of the finest districts of country in the United States, 
and his house was always the abode of hospitality, where his numerous 
friends and acquaintance were received by him with a cordial welcome. 

In addition to other pursuits on his plantation, much of General Jack- 
son's attention was given to the raising of fine horses, from the most im- 
proved breeds of the southern states. He consequently became a fre- 
quenter of race-courses at the west, to bring out his favorite horses, ahd 
occasionally lost and won in the sports of the turf. These affairs led to one 
of the most unfortunate events of his life. In consequence of a quarrel, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 141 

which ended in blows, between Jackson and Charles Dickinson, on the 
subject of a bet made at a horse-race, followed by an abusive publication 
on the part of Dickinson, charging Jackson with cowardice ; the general 
sent Dickinson a challenge. The duel took place at Harrison's mills, on 
Red river, in Kentucky, on the 30th of May, 1806. The word being 
given, Dickinson fired first, his ball taking effect in Jackson's breast, and 
shattering two of his ribs ; the next instant Jackson fired, although thus 
severely wounded, and Dickinson fell ; he was taken to a neighboring 
house, and survived but a few hours. This melancholy affair caused 
much excitement in Tennessee at the time, and various publications on 
the subject appeared from the friends of the respective parties, and General 
Jackson himself ; but the certificates of the seconds declared that the duel 
had been fairly conducted, according to the previous understanding of the 
parties. The firmness of nerve displayed by General Jackson in this duel 
was remarkable, considering that he was wounded before discharging his 
pistol. Some weeks transpired before he recovered from the effects of 
his wounds. 

During the short period while General Jackson was a member of Con- 
gress, he had formed the acquaintance of Colonel Aaron Burr, who, in 
1805, visited the western country, and spent several days at the residence 
of Jackson. Burr, in his journal, describes the general as " once a law- 
yer, after a judge, now a planter ; a man of intelligence ; and one of 
those prompt, frank, ardent souls whom I love to meet." The gen- 
eral treated him with great kindness and hospitality, and understanding 
that his object was the settlement of a tract of land in Louisiana, and the* 
making arrangements for the invasion of Mexico, in case of a war with 
Spain, he rendered him such assistance as he could afford, and procured 
for him a boat to descend the Cumberland river. 

In 1806, Colonel Burr again returned to the western country, and com- 
menced preparations for an expedition. General Jackson offered to ac- 
company him to Mexico with a body of troops, in castf of a war with 
Spain ; but declined holding communication with him if he had any hos- 
tile intentions against the United States. Burr assured him, in the most 
positive terms, that he had no such hostile design ; but Jackson having his 
suspicions, the previous intimacy between him and Burr ceased. He 
afterward received orders from the war department to call out the military, 
if necessary, to suppress Burr's projects, and arrest Burr himself. Twelve 
military companies of the militia under his command, were ordered out by 
General Jackson, but as Burr had descended the Cumberland and Missis- 
sippi rivers, with only a few unarmed men, the general dismissed the 
troops, and reported his proceedings to the government. 

After Burr was arrested and taken to Richmond, Virginia, for trial, on 
a charge of treason against the United States, General Jackson was sum- 
moned as a witness, but was not examined. He knew nothing tending to 



142 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

criminate the accused, and his evidence, if given, would have been in 
favor of Burr. It may be here remarked, that Colonel Burr's respect for 
General Jackson continued through life ; and he always spoke of him as 
a man of integrity and honor. It is believed that he was the first to name 
him (though this was then unknown to the general himself), as early as 1815, 
in his private correspondence, as a suitable candidate for the presidency. 

General Jackson continued in private life, attending to his agricultural 
employments, until the war of 1812 with Great Britain. Having become 
interested in a mercantile establishment in Nashville, the management of 
which he intrusted to his partner in that business, he became seriously 
involved in the debts of the concern, which he was compelled to close ; 
and, for the payment of his debts, sold his residence and plantation. He 
then retired into a log-cabin, near the place since called " the Hermitage," 
and commenced the world anew. By a prudent and economical manage- 
ment of his affairs, he soon retrieved his pecuniary condition, and again 
became possessed of the means of comfort and enjoyment. 

But a period approached when the pleasures and endearments of home 
were to be abandoned, for the duties of more active life. War with Great 
Britain was declared by the Congress of the United States on the 12th of 
June, 1812. General Jackson, ever devoted to the interests of his coun- 
try, from the moment of the declaration knew no wish so strong as that 
of entering into her service against a power which, independent of pubhc 
considerations, he had many private reasons for disliking. In her he 
could trace sufferings and injuries received, and the efficient cause why, 
in early life, he had been left forlorn and wretched, without a single rela- 
tion in the world. His proud and inflexible mind, however, could not 
bend to solicit an appointment in the army which was about to be raised. 
He accordingly remained wholly unknown, until, at the head of the militia 
employed against the Creek Indians, his constant vigilance, and the 
splendor of his victories, apprized the general government of those great 
military talents which he so eminently possessed and conspicuously 
displayed, when opportunities for exerting them were afforded. 

The acts of Congress on the 6th of February and July, 1812, afforded 
the means of bringing into view a display of those powers which, being 
unknown, unfortunately might have slumbered in inaction. Under the 
authority of these acts, authorizing the president to accept the services of 
fifty thousand volunteers, he addressed the citizens of his division, and 
twenty-five hundred flocked to his standard. A tender of them having 
been made, and the offer accepted, in November he received orders to 
place himself at their head and to descend the Mississippi, for the de- 
fence of the lower country, which was then supposed to be in danger. 
Accordingly, on the 10th of December, 1812, those troops rendezvoused 
at Nashville, prepared to advance to their place of destination ; and 
although the weather was then excessively severe, and the ground covered 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON, 143 

with snow, no troops could have displayed greater firmness. The gen- 
eral was everywhere with them, inspiring them with the ardor that ani- 
mated his own bosom.* 

Having procured supplies, and made the necessary arrangements for an 
active campaign, they proceeded, the 7th of Januar}', 1813, on their jour- 
ney, and descending the Ohio and Mississippi, through cold and ice, ar- 
rived a.nd halted at Natchez. Here Jackson had been instructed to remain, 
until he should receive fjjrther orders. Having chosen a healthy site for 
the encampment of his troops, he devoted his time to training and prepar- 
ing them for active service. The clouds of war, however, in that quarter 
having blown over, an order was received from the secretary of war, dated 
the fifth of January, directing him, on receipt thereof, to dismiss those im- 
der his command from service, and to take measures for delivering over 
every article of public property in his possession to General Wilkinson. 
When this order reached his camp, there were one hundred and fifty on 
the sick report, and almost the whole of them destitute of the means of 
defraying the expenses of their return. The consequence of a strict com- 
pliance with the secretary's order, would have been, that many of the sick 
must have perished, while most of the others, from their destitute condi- 
tion, would, of necessity, have been compelled to enlist in the regular 
army, under General Wilkinson. f 

General Jackson could not think of sacrificing or injuring an army that 
had shown such devotedness to their country ; and he determined to dis- 
regard the order, and march them again to their homes in Tennessee, 
where they had been embodied. This determination met with the disap- 
probation of his field-officers and of General Wilkinson ; but persisting in 
his design. General Jackson marched the whole of his division to the sec- 
tion of country whence they had been drawn, and dismissed them from 
service, as he had been instructed. The sick were transported in wagons, 
at the same time. It was at a time of the year when the roads were bad, 
and the swamps, lying in their passage, deep and full ; yet the general 
placed before his troops an example of patience under hardships that lulled 
to silence all complaints, and won to him, still stronger than before, the 
esteem and respect of every one. On arriving at Nashville, he communi- 
cated to the president of the United States the course he had pursued, and 
the reasons that had induced it. His conduct was in the end approved, 
and the expenses incurred directed to be paid by the government. 

The volunteers who had descended the river having been discharged, 
early in May, 1813, there was little expectation that they would again be 
called for. Tennessee was too remotely situated in the interior, to expect 
their services would be required for the defence of the state ; and thus 
far, the Bruish had discovered no serious intention of waging operations 
against any part of Louisiana. Their repose, however, was not of long 
♦Eaton's Life of Jackson. | Ibid. 



144 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

duration. The Creek Indians, inhabiting the country lying between the 
Chattahoochee and Toinbigbee rivers, and extending from the Tennessee 
river to the Florida line, had lately manifested strong symptoms of hostility 
toward the- United States. This disposition was greatly strengthened 
through means used by the northern Indians, who were then making prep- 
arations for a war against the United States, and who wished .to engage 
the southern tribes in the same enterprise. 

An artful impostor had, about this time, sprung up among the Shawnees, 
a northern tribe, who, by passing for a prophet, had acquired a most aston- 
ishing influence among his own and the neighboring Indian tribes. He 
succeeded in a short time in kindling a phrensy and rage against the Anglo- 
Americans, which soon after burst forth in acts of destructive violence. His 
brother, Tecumseh, who became so famous during the war, and who was 
killed subsequently at the battle of the Thames, in Canada, was despatched 
to the southern tribes, to excite in them the same temper. To the Creeks, 
then the most numerous and powerful of the southern Indians, he directed 
his principal attention, and in the spring of 1812 he had repeated confer- 
ences with the chiefs of that nation. Deriving his powers from his brother, 
the prophet, whose extraordinary commission and endowments were, pre- 
vious to this, well understood by the tribes in the south, his authority was 
regarded with the highest veneration. To afford additional weight to his 
councils, Tecumseh gave assurances of aid and support from Great Britain ; 
and having made other arrangements to carry out his plans, he returned to 
his own tribe. 

From this time, a regular communication was kept up between the Creeks 
and the northern tribes ; while depredations were committed on the fron- 
tier settlers by parties of the allied Indians. In the summer of 1812, sev- 
eral families were murdered near the mouth of the Ohio, and soon after- 
ward similar outrages were committed in Tennessee and Georgia. These 
acts were not sanctioned by the chiefs of the Creek nation, for, on appli- 
cation to them by the general government, the offenders were punished 
with death. No sooner was this done, than the spirit of the greater part 
of the nation suddenly kindled into civil war. 

They first attacked their own countrymen who were friendly to the Uni- 
ted States, and compelled them to retire toward the white settlements for 
protection. After this, they collected a supply of ammunition from the 
Spaniards at Pensacola, and, on the 30th of August, 1813, commenced an 
assault on Fort Mimms, in the Mississippi territory, which they succeeded 
in carrying, and put to death nearly three hundred persons, including 
women and children, with the most savage barbarity. Only seventeen of 
the whole number in the fort escaped, to bring intelligence of the catas- 
trophe. 

This monstrous and unprovoked outrage was no sooner known in Ten- 
nessee, than the whole state was thrown into a ferment, and immediate 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 145 

measures were taken to inflict exemplary punishment on the hostile In- 
dians. The legislature, by the advice of numerous citizens, among whom 
were the governor and General Jackson, authorized the executive to call 
into the field 3,500 men, to be marched against the Indians. The troops 
were placed under the command of General Jackson, notwithstanding he 
was at the time seriously indisposed, from the efTects of a fractured arm, 
owing to a wound received by him from a pistol-shot, in a fight with 
Colonel Thomas H. Benton, at a public house in Nashville. 

The army under General Jackson marched into the Indian country in 
October, 1813. Crossing the Tennessee river, and learning that a large 
body of the enemy had posted themselves at Tallushatchee, on the river 
Coosa ; General Coffee was detached with nine hundred men to attack and 
disperse them. This was effected, with a small loss on the part of the 
Tennessee troops, while the Indians lost 186 killed, among whom were 
unfortunately, and through accident, a few women and children. Eighty- 
four Indian women and children were taken prisoners, and treated with 
the utmost humanity. 

Another battle with over a thousand of the Creeks, took place shortly 
after, at Talladega, thirty miles below Tallushatchee ; the Tennessee 
troops being commanded by General Jackson in person ; when 300 Indians 
were left dead on the field, and about as many more slain in their flight. 

This campaign was protracted much longer than would otherwise have 
been the case, in consequence of the want of supplies of provisions for the 
army, which caused large numbers of the troops to return to their homes. 
Having at length obtained supplies, and being joined by more troops. General 
Jackson advanced still further into the enemy's country. Several battles 
took place with the Indians, the most sanguinary of which was that of 
Tohopeka or the Horseshoe, at the bend of the Tallapoosa river. On 
that occasion, 557 warriors, of 1,000 in the engagement, were found dead 
on the field, besides many others who were killed and thrown into the 
river, while the battle raged, or shot in attempting to escape by swimming. 
Over 300 prisoners were taken, all, but three or four, women and children. 
In this and other battles, the whites were assisted by a considerable body 
of friendly Creek and Cherokee Indians, who engaged in pursuing and de- 
stroying their fugitive countrymen with the most unrelenting rigor ; " a cir- 
cumstance," says Eaton, in his life of Jackson, " which the patriot must ever 
view with abhorrence ; and although, from necessity or policy, he may 
be compelled to avail himself of the advantages afforded by such a cir- 
cumstance, he can never be induced either to approve or justify it." 

The battle of the Horsehoe gave a deathblow to the hopes of the In- 
dians ; nor did they venture afterward to make a stand. The principal 
chiefs came in, made their submission to General Jackson, and sued for 
peace ; the campaign was ended, and the troops were marched back to- 
Tennessee and discharged. 

10 



146 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

In May, 1814, General Jackson received the appointment of major-gen- 
eral in the army of the United States, on the resignation of General Har- 
rison. Previous to this appointment, a commission as brigadier and bre- 
vet major-general had been forwarded to General Jackson, but his com- 
mission for the higher office being received the day after the notification 
of the other, he had not sent his answer to the war department, and the 
appointment of major-general was accepted. 

The contest with the Indians being ended, the first and principal object 
of the government was, to enter into some definite arrangement which 
should deprive of success any effort that might thereafter be made, by other 
powers, to enlist those savages in their wars. None was so well calcula- 
ted to answer this end, as that of restricting their limits, so as to cut off 
their communication with British and Spanish agents, in East and West 
Florida. 

No treaty of friendship or boundary had yet been entered into by the 
government with the Indians ; they remained a conquered people, and 
within the limits, and subject to the regulations and restrictions which 
had been prescribed in March, 1814, by General Jackson, when he re- 
tired from the country. He was now, by the government, called upon to 
act in a new and different character, and to negotiate the terms upon 
which an amicable understanding should be restored between the United 
States and these conquered Indians. Colonel Hawkins, who for a con- 
siderable time past had been the agent to the Creek nation, was also as- 
sociated in the mission. 

On the 10th of July, 1814, General Jackson, with a small retinue, 
reached the Alabama ; and on the 10th of August succeeded in procuring 
the execution of a treaty, in which the Indians pledged themselves no 
more to listen to foreign emissaries — to hold no communication with 
British or Spanish garrisons ; guarantied to the United States the right 
of erecting military posts in their country, and a free navigation of all 
their waters. They stipulated also, that they would suffer no agent or 
trader to pass among them, or hold any kind of commerce or intercourse 
with the nation, unless specially deriving his authority from the president 
of the United States.* 

The treaty also settled the boundary and defined the extent of territory 
secured to the Creeks, ^.nd that which they were required to surrender. 
Sufficient territory was acquired on the south by the United States, to give 
security to the Mobile settlements, and to the western borders of Georgia, 
effectually cutting off the communication of the Creeks with the Chicka- 
saws and Choctaws, and separating them from the Seminole tribes and 
other unfriendly Indians in Florida. 

The retreat of the savages in Florida had been always looked upon as 
a place whence the United States might apprehend serious difficulties to 

• Eaton. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 147 

arise. General Jackson entertained the belief that the British, through 
this channel, with the aid of the Spanish governor, had protected the In- 
dians, and supplied them with arms and ammunition. He received cer- 
tain information, when on his way to negotiate the treaty with the Indians, 
that about three hundred English troops had landed ; were fortifying 
themselves at the mouth of the Apalachicola, and were endeavoring to 
excite the Indians to war. No time was lost in giving the government 
notice of what was passing, and of the course he deemed advisable to be 
pursued. The advantages to be secured from the possession of Pensa- 
cola he had frequently urged. But the government were unwilling to en- 
counter the risk of a rupture with Spain, by authorizing the United 
States troops to enter her territory, while she occupied a neutral position, 
and Jackson was unable to obtain any answer to his repeated and pres- 
sing applications to be allowed to make a descent upon Pensacola, and re- 
duce it, which, he gave it as his opinion, would bring the war in the 
south to a speedy termination. The secretary of war, General Arm- 
strong, however, wrote him a letter on the 18th of July, 1814, which 
Jackson did not receive until the 17th of January, 1815, after the war was 
over, in which he remarked, that, " If the Spanish authorities admit, feed, 
arm, and co-operate with the British and hostile Indians, we must strike, 
on the broad principle of self-preservation ; under other and different cir- 
cumstances we must forbear." 

The general, afterward speaking of this transaction, remarked : " If 
this letter, or any hint that such a course would have been winked at by 
the government, had been received, it would have been in my power to 
have captured the British shipping in the bay. But acting on my own re- 
sponsibility, against a neutral power, it became essential for me to pro- 
ceed with more caution than my judgment or wishes approved, and conse- 
quently, important advantages were lost, which might have been secured." 

Having ascertained, through some Indian spies, that a considerable Eng- 
lish force had arrived in Florida, and that muskets and ammunition had 
been given to the Indians, General Jackson wrote to the Spanish governor 
of Pensacola, apprizing him of the information received, and demanding 
the surrender to him of such chiefs of the hostile Indians as were with 
him. The governor, after some delay, replied to this letter, denying that 
any hostile Indians were with him at that time ; nor could he refuse those 
Indians assistance, on the ground of hospitality, when their distresses were 
so great, or surrender them without acting in open violation of the laws of 
nations. He also demanded to be informed, if the United States were ig- 
norant that, at the conquest of Florida, there was a treaty between Great 
Britain and the Creek Indians, and whether they did not know that it still 
existed between Spain and those tribes. In the same letter, the governor 
accused the United States government of having harbored traitors from the 



148 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

Mexican provinces, and of countenancing pirates who had committed rob- 
beries upon the merchant-vessels of Spain. 

The general answered this letter by another equally high-toned, in which, 
among other things, he says : " Your excellency has been candid enough 
to admit your having supplied the Indians with arras. In addition to' this, 
I have learned that a British flag has been seen flying on one of your 
forts. All this is done, while you are pretending to be neutral. You can 
not be surprised, then, but, on the contrary, will provide a fort in your 
town for my soldiers and Indians, should I take it in my head to pay you 
a visit. 

"In future, I beg you to withhold your insulting charges against my 
government, for one more inclined to listen to slander than I am ; nor 
consider me any more as a diplomatic character, unless so proclaimed to 
you from the mouths of my cannon." 

Captain Gordon, who had been despatched to Pensacola, on his return, 
reported to the general, that he had seen from one hundred and fifty to 
two hundred officers and soldiers, a park of artillery, and about five hun- 
dred Indians, under the drill of British officers, armed with new muskets, 
and dressed in the English uniform. 

Jackson directly brought to the view of the government the information 
he had received, and again urged his favorite scheme, the reduction of 
Pensacola. Many difficulties were presented ; but, to have all things in 
a state of readiness for action, when the time should arrive to authorize it, 
he addressed the governors of Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Mississippi 
territory, informing them of the necessity of holding all the forces allotted 
for the defence of the southwestern military district, in a state of readiness 
to march at any notice, and to any point where they might be required. 
The warriors of the diflferent Indian tribes were ordered to be marshalled, 
and taken into pay of the government. 

On the day after completing his business at Fort Jackson, he departed 
for Mobile, to place the country in a state of defence. He had already 
despatched his adjutant-general. Colonel Butler, to Tennessee, with orders 
to raise volunteers ; and on the 28th September, 1814, two thousand able- 
bodied men, well supplied with rifles and muskets, assembled under the 
command of General Coffee, at Fayetteville, Tennessee, to march for Mo- 
bile, a distance of at least four hundred miles. The regular forces, lately 
enlisted, marched from Nashville to Mobile in about fourteen days. 

As General Jackson kept his own determination a secret, the idea could 
scarcely be entertained, that at this time he intended to advance against 
Pensacola on his own responsibility. He was not long in doubt as to the 
course proper to be pursued. Colonel Nicholls had arrived in August at 
that place, with a squadron of British ships, and taken up his quarters with 
the Spanish governor, Manrequez. He issued a proclamation to the in- 
habitants of the southwest, inviting them to join the British standard. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 149 

After waiting two weeks, he made an unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer, 
which commanded the entrance to Mobile bay. The fort was defended 
by Major Lawrence in so gallant a manner, that the British were com- 
pelled to retire, with the loss of one of their ships and about two hundred 
men. 

The British retired to Pensacola, and General Jackson determined, on 
his own responsibility, to enter Florida and take that town. General 
Coffee, with about twenty-eight hundred men, had arrived at Fort St. 
Stephens, on the Mobile river. General Jackson repaired to Coffee's 
camp, and made the necessary arrangement for marching into Florida. 
The quartermasters were destitute of funds, and the government credit was 
insufficient to procure supplies for the army. Thus situated, from his own 
limited funds, and loans effected on his credit and responsibility, he suc- 
ceeded in carrying his plans into effect, and in hastening his army to the 
place of its destination. 

The difficulty of subsisting cavalry on the route, rendered it necessary 
that part of the brigade should proceed on foot. Although they had vol- 
unteered in the service as mounted men, and expected that no different 
disposition would be made of them, yet they cheerfully acquiesced in the 
order ; and one thousand, abandoning their horses, to subsist as they could, 
on the reeds that grew along the river-bottoms, prepared to commence 
their march. Being supplied with rations for the trip, on the 2d day of 
November the line of march was taken up, and Pensacola was reached on 
the 6th. The British and Spaniards had obtained intelligence of their ap- 
proach and intended attack, and everything was in readiness to dispute 
their passage to the town. The forts were garrisoned, and prepared for 
resistance ; batteries formed in the principal streets ; and the British ves- 
sels moored within the bay, and so disposed as to command the main en- 
trances which led to Pensacola. 

The American army consisting of Coffee's brigade, the regulars, and a 
few Indians, in all about 3,000 men, had arrived within a mile and a half 
of the town, and formed their encampment. Before any final step was 
taken, General Jackson concluded to make a further application to the 
governor, and to learn of him what course, at the present moment, he 
would make it necessary for him to pursue. Major Piere was accord- 
ingly despatched with a flag, to disclose the object of the visit, and to 
require that the different forts, Barancas, St. Rose, and St. Michael, should 
be immediately surrendered, to be garrisoned and held by the United 
States, until Spain, by furnishing a sufficient force, might be able to pro- 
tect the province, and preserve her neutral character. 

This mission experienced no very favorable result. Major Piere, on 
approaching St. Michael's, was fired on, and compelled to return. The 
Spanish flag was displayed on the fort, and under it the outrage was com- 
mitted, although the British flag had been associated with it until the day 



150 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

before. Notwithstanding this unprovoked outrage, General Jackson acted 
with forbearance, and sent another letter to the governor, asking an expla- 
nation. In answer, the governor stated that what had been done was not 
properly chargeable on him, but on the English ; and he assured the gen- 
eral of his perfect willingness to receive any overtures he might be pleased 
to make. 

Major Piere was again despatched to meet the offer of the governor. 
The surrender of the fortifications and munitions of war was demanded, to 
be receipted for, and become the subject of future arrangement by the 
respective governments. The governor, after advising with his council, 
rejected the propositions ; and as soon as the answer was received by 
Jackson, he resolved to urge his army forward, and, immediately com- 
mencing his march, proceeded to the accomplishment of his object, deter- 
mined to effect it, in despite of danger and of consequences. 

The American array was in motion early in the morning of the 7th of 
November. Pushing forward, they were soon in the streets, and sheltered 
by the houses from the cannon of the British vessels in the harbor. Cap- 
tain Ijaval, who commanded the advance, fell severely wounded, while 
he was charging a Spanish battery. From behind the houses and garden 
fences, constant volleys of musketry were discharged, until the regulars 
arriving, met the Spaniards, and drove them from their positions. 

The governor, panic-struck, and trembling for the safety of the city, 
hastened, bearing a flag in his hand, to find the commander, and seek to 
stay the carnage, and promised to consent to whatever terms might be 
demanded of him. 

No time was lost by General Jackson in procuring what was considered 
by him of vital importance — the surrender of the forts. A capitulation 
was agreed on the next day ; Pensacola and the different fortresses were 
to be retained by the United States, until Spain could better maintain her 
authority ; while the rights and privileges of her citizens were to be 
regarded and respected. 

Everything was in readiness the next day to take possession of Baran- 
cas fort, fourteen miles west of Pensacola. The American troops were 
ready for marching, when a tremendous explosion gave notice that all was 
destroyed. It was ascertained that the fort had been blown up, and that 
the British shipping had retired from the bay. On their retreat from Pen- 
sacola, the British carried off with them three or four hundred slaves, in 
spite of the remonstrances of the owners. 

The American loss in this expedition was quite inconsiderable. The 
left column alone met resistance, and had fifteen or twenty wounded — 
none killed. Captain Laval and Lieutenant Flournoy were among the 
number wounded. 

Deeming it unnecessary to think of garrisoning and attempting to hold the 
forts in Florida, Jackson concluded to redeliver all that had been surren- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 151 

dered, and retire from the territory. Two days, therefore, after entering 
Pensacola, he abandoned it. He wrote to the Spanish governor, conclu- 
ding as follows : " The enemy has .retreated ; the hostile Creeks have fled 
to the forest ; and I now retire from your town, leaving you to occupy 
your forts and protect the rights of your citizens." 

It had been for some time rumored and generally accredited, that a very 
considerable force might be expected from England, destined to act against 
some part of the United States, most probably New Orleans. The im- 
portance of this place was well known to the enemy ; it was the key to 
the entire commerce of the western country. Had a descent been made 
upon it a few months before, it might have been taken with all imaginable 
ease ; but the British had confidently indulged the belief that they could 
possess it at any time, without much difficulty. 

There was nothing now so much desired by General Jackson, as to be 
able to depart for New Orleans, where he apprehended the greatest dan- 
ger, and where he believed his presence was most material. He had 
already effected a partial security for Mobile, and the inhabitants in that 
vicinity. His health was still delicate, which almost wholly unfitted him 
for the duties he had to encounter ; but his constant expectation of a large 
force appearing on the coast, impelled him to action. General Coff'ee and 
Colonel Hinds, with their mounted men, were ordered to march, and take 
a position convenient to New Orleans, where they could find forage for their 
horses. Everything being arranged, and the command at Mobile left with 
General Winchester, Jackson on the 22d of November, left Mobile for 
New Orleans, where he arrived on the 1st of December, and where his 
headquarters were for the present established.* 

General Jackson was now on a new theatre, and soon to be brought in 
collision with an enemy diff'erent from any he had yet encountered ; the 
time had arrived to call forth all the energies he possessed. His body 
worn down by sickness and exhaustion, with a mind constantly alive to 
the apprehension, that, with the means given him, it would not be in his 
power to satisfy his own wishes, and the expectations of his country, 
were circumstances well calculated to depress him. 

Louisiana, he well knew, was ill supplied with arms, and contained 
a mixed population, of diff'erent tongues, and doubtful as to their attach- 
ment to the government of the United States. No troops, arms, or ammu- 
nition, had yet descended from the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. 
His only reliance for defence, if suddenly assailed, was on the few regu- 
lars he had, the volunteers of General Coffee, and such troops as the state 
itself could furnish. Although continually agitated by gloomy forebodings, 
he breathed his fears to none. He appeared constantly serene, en- 
deavored to impress a general belief that the country could and would 
be successfully defended. This apparent tranquillity and avowed certainty 

• Eaton. 



r 



152 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

of success in the general, excited strong hopes, dispelled everything like 
fear, and impressed all with additional confidence. 

While engaged in his operations on the Mobile, he had kept up a cor- 
respondence with Governor Claiborne, of Louisiana, urging him to the 
adoption of measures for the defence of the state. He had also forwarded 
an address to the people of Louisiana, endeavoring to excite them to a de- 
fence of their rights and liberties. Preparations for collecting troops in 
sufficient strength to repel an invasion, had been actively carried forward. 
The secretary of war had called upon the governors of Kentucky and 
Tennessee for quotas of the militia of those states, which requisitions were 
promptly answered by the governors, and the troops embarked for New 
Orleans, in November. 

While the troops from the upper country were expected. General Jack- 
son was active in adopting such measures as could be earliest effected, 
and which were best calculated for resistance and defence. The volunteer 
corps of the city, and other militia, were reviewed, the forts in the vicinity 
visited, to ascertain their situation and capacity for defence, and new works 
were erected on the banks of the Mississippi, below the city. Having 
endeavored, without success, to induce the legislature of Louisiana 
promptly to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and sensible that delay 
was dangerous, he assumed the responsibility, and superseded their delibera- 
tions, by declaring the city and environs of New Orleans under martial law. 
The expected British force appeared off Pensacola, early in December, 
and on the 22d effected a landing of their troops, about fifteen miles south- 
east of New Orleans. The American gunboats on Lake Borgne, only five 
in number, were previously attacked by a force of forty-three British boats, 
and captured, after a gallant defence, on the 14th of December. 

With the exception of the Kentucky troops, 2,250 in number, all the 
forces expected had arrived previous to the 21st of December. The Ken- 
tucky troops arrived on the 4th of January. The Tennessee troops, un- 
der General Carroll, were about 2,500 in number. The remaining portion 
of the American forces consisted of Coffee's brigade of mounted men, the 
Mississippi dragoons, the Louisiana militia, two regiments of United States 
regular troops, and a company of marines and artillery. 

On the approach of the enemy being announced to General Jackson, on 
the 22d of December, he resolved to march, and that night give them bat- 
tle. He therefore advanced, at the head of about 2,000 men, and the fol- 
lowing day a battle took place with a detachment of about 2,500 of the 
British army, nine miles below New Orleans. The enemy's force was 
increased during the day to four or five thousand, with which the Ameri- 
cans maintained a severe conflict of more than an hour, and retired in 
safety from the ground ; with the loss of but 24 killed, 115 wounded, and 
74 made prisoners, while the British loss, in killed, wounded, and prison- 
ers, was about 400. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 153 

General Jackson now withdrew his troops to his intrenchments, four 
miles below the city. On the 28th of December, and the 1st of January, 
these were vigorously cannonaded by the enemy, but without success. 

On the morning of the 8th of January, General Pakenham, commander- 
in-chief of the British, advanced against the American intrenchments with 
the main body of his army, numbering more than twelve thousand men. 

Behind their breastworks of cotton bales, which no balls could pene- 
trate, six thousand Americans, mostly militia, but the best marksmen in 
the land, silently awaited the attack. When the advancing columns had 
approached within reach of the batteries, they were met by an incessant 
and destructive cannonade ; but, closing their ranks as fast as they were 
opened, they continued steadily to advance, until they came within reach 
of the American musketry and rifles. The extended American line now 
presented one vivid stream of fire, throwing the enemy into confusion, and 
covering the plain with the wounded and the dead.* 

In an attempt to rally his troops, General Pakenham was killed ; Gen- 
eral Gibbs, the second in command, was mortally wounded, and General 
Keene severely. The enemy now fled in dismay from the certain death 
which seemed to await them. General Lambert, on whom the command 
devolved, being unable to check the flight of the troops, retired to his en- 
campment. On the 18th, the whole British army hastily withdrew, and 
retreated to their shipping. 

The heartfelt joy at the glorious victory achieved on one side of the 
river was clouded by the disaster witnessed on the other. A small body 
of the American forces was stationed on the right bank of the river. 
They were attacked by eight hundred chosen British troops, under Colo- 
nel Thornton, and compelled to retreat. 

The loss of the British in the main attack on the left bank has been 
variously stated. The killed, wounded, and prisoners, ascertained on the 
next day after the battle, by Colonel Hayne, the inspector-general, places 
it at 2,600 ; General Lambert's report to Lord Bathurst makes it 2,070, 
The loss of the Americans in killed and wounded was but thirteen.! 

On the 20th of January, 1815, General Jackson, with his army, returned 
to New Orleans. The general glow excited at beholding his entrance 
into the city, at the head of a victorious army, was manifested by all those 
feelings which patriotism and sympathy inspire. All greeted his return, 
and hailed him as their deliverer. The 23d was appointed a day of thanks- 
giving. Jackson repaired to the cathedral, which was crowded to excess. 
Children, robed in white, strewed his way with flowers, and an ode was 
recited as he passed. A Te Deum was sung, and Bishop Dubourg deliv- 
ered an address, which he concluded by presenting the general with a 
wreath of laurel. 

JNIartial law still prevailed in New Orleans, and in February General 

• Wilson's United States. t Eaton. * 

* 



r 



1/54 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

Jackson arrested Mr Louallier, a member of the legislature, on a charge 
of exciting mutiny among his troops, by a publication, on the 10th of Feb- 
ruary, in the Louisiana Gazette, stating that a treaty of peace had been 
signed. Louallier applied to Judge Hall for a writ of habeas corpus, 
which was immediately granted. Instead of obeying the writ, the general 
arrested the judge, and sent him from the city on the 11th of February, 
On the 13th of the same month, an express reached headquarters, from the 
war department at Washington city, announcing the conclusion of peace 
between Great Britain and the United States, and directing a cessation of 
hostilities. The previous unofficial intelligence on the 10th had been re- 
ceived by Mr. Livingston, through Admiral Cochrane, of the British fleet. 

On being restored to the exercise of his functions. Judge Hall ordered 
General Jackson to appear before him, to show cause why an attachment 
for contempt should not be awarded, on the ground that he had refused to 
obey a writ issued to him, detained an original paper belonging to the 
court, and imprisoned the judge. The general obeyed the summons, and 
appeared in court in the garb of a citizen, to receive the sentence of the 
court, having previously made a written defence. The judge sentenced 
the general to pay a fine of one thousand dollars, which he paid. A sum 
was soon raised by the people, to relieve him from the payment, but he de- 
clined to receive it. The amount, with interest, was subsequently refunded 
to Jackson, by act of Congress, in 1844. 

The war being ended, and the militia having been discharged, and re- 
turned to their homes. General Jackson left New Orleans for Nashville, 
where he arrived in May, 1815, and was received by his fellow-citizens 
with the most cordial feelings. An address was delivered at the court- 
house, in behalf of the citizens, welcoming his return. He then retired 
to his family residence, to repair a broken constitution, and to enjoy that 
repose to which, for eighteen months, he had been a stranger. 

The annunciation of the triumphant defence of New Orleans was, in 
every section of the United States, hailed with acclamation. The legis- 
latures of many of the states voted to him their approbation and thanks, for 
what he had done. The Congress of the United States did the same, 
and directed a gold medal to be presented to him, commemorative of the 
event. 

The president, on the resignation of General Thomas Pinckney, in 1815, 
appointed General Jackson commander-in-chief of the southern division 
of the United States. Toward the close of the autumn of 1815, he visited 
Washington city, and on his way met with continued demonstrations of re- 
spect from the people. At this period, Colonel Burr wrote from New York, 
to ms son-in-law, Ex-Governor Alston, of South Carolina, dated Novem- 
ber 20, 1815, recommending the adoption of measures to bring forward the 
nomination of General Jackson, as a candidate for president of the United 
States, previous to the nomination of James Monroe by a congressional 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSOX. 155 

caucus, which was then anticipated to take place in December following, 
" Nothing is wanting," says Burr, " but a respectable nomination before 
the proclamation of the Virginia caucus, and Jackson's success is inevita- 
ble. Jackson is on his way to Washington. If you should have any con- 
fidential friend among the members of Congress from your state, charge 
him to caution Jackson against the perfidious caresses with which he will 
be overwhelmed at Washington." On the 11th of December, Colonel 
Burr wrote to Governor Alston, saying, that, since the date of his last, 
" things are wonderfully advanced. These will require a letter from your- 
self and others, advising Jackson what is doing — that communications have 
been had with the northern states, requiring him only to be passive, and 
asking from him a list of persons to whom you may address your letters." 
To this letter Governor Alston replied, on the 16th February, 1816, in- 
forming Colonel Burr, that his letter was received in January, " too late, 
of course, had circumstances been ever so favorable, to be acted upon in 
the manner proposed. I fully -coincide with you in sentiment; but the 
spirit, the energy, the health, necessary to give practical effect to senti- 
ment, are all gone. I feel too much alone, too entirely unconnected with 
the world, to take much interest in anything."* 

It appears, from this correspondence, that accidental circumstances 
alone, prevented the public nomination of General Jackson by his native 
state, as a candidate for president, at a very early period after the war 
with Great Britain, and caused the bringing forward of his name to be de- 
ferred until the last term of Mr. Monroe's administration, viz., in 1822. 
In the spring of 1816, General Jackson again visited New Orleans. After 
stationing the army in the southern section of his division, he concluded a 
treaty with the Indians, the object of which was to obtain from them the 
relinquishment of all the claim they pretended to have to lands within the 
limits of the United States, and which had been previously ceded by them. 
In the year 1818, the services of General Jackson, in his military ca- 
pacity, were again called into requisition. The Seminole Indians, of 
Florida, had shown their hostility to the United States, by committing 
depredations on the southern frontiers. General Gaines had been ordered 
by the president, in October, 1817, to take the necessary measures for the 
defence of the inhabitants of that section of the Union. He accordingly 
built three forts, and proceeded to expel the Indians, who resisted him, as 
far as was in their power, and committed various outrages. At the mouth 
of Flint river, the Indians fell in with a party of forty men, under Lieuten- 
ant Scott, all of whom they killed but six, who escaped by swimming. 

When the news of this massacre reached General Jackson, he raised 

an army of two thousand five hundred volunteers, and mustered them as 

in the service of the United States. After a rapid march, he arrived with 

his army, on the 1st of April, at the Mickasucky villages, which were de- 

• Davis's Life of Burr. 



m 



156 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

serted on his approach. Having burnt the villages, he marched to St. 
Marks, then a Spanish post on the Appalachee bay, in Florida. 

Tveo persons, who were traders with the Indians, namely, Arbuthnot, a 
Scotchman, and Ambrister, a British lieutenant of marines, were taken 
prisoners by Jackson, near St. Marks, and confined. They were both ac- 
cused of exciting the Indians to hostility against the United States, and 
supplying them with arms and ammunition. They were tried by a court- 
martial, consisting of officers of the militia, and found guilty. One of them 
was sentenced to be shot, and the other to be hung, and their execution took 
place by order of General Jackson. 

About the middle of May, General Jackson arrived at the Escambia, 
near Pensacola, having been informed that a body of hostile Indians had 
been harbored at that place. He took possession of Pensacola and Fort 
Barancas, notwithstanding a remonstrance from the governor of the terri- 
tory. Two Indian chiefs, who were captured, were hung, by order of 
General Jackson, under circumstances which he deemed justifiable, but 
for which he was censured by many. 

On the 2d June, 1818, General Jackson addressed a letter to the secre- 
tary of war, at the close of which he says : " The Seminole war may now 
be considered as at a close ; tranquillity is again restored to the southern 
frontier of the United States, and, as long as a cordon of military posts is 
maintained along the gulf of Mexico, America has nothing to apprehend 
from either foreign or Indian hostilities. The immutable principles of self- 
defence justified the occupancy of the Floridas, and the same principles 
will warrant the American government in holding it, until such time as 
Spain can guaranty, by an adequate military force, the maintaining of her 
authority within the colony." 

After the campaign in Florida, General Jackson returned to Nashville, 
and shortly afterward he resigned his commission in the army. During 
the session of Congress, in January, 1819, he visited Washington, when 
his transactions in the Seminole war became the subject of investigation 
by Congress. After a long and exciting debate on the subject, resolutions 
of censure, for his proceedings in Florida, were rejected in the house of 
representatives, by a large majority, and his course was sustained by the 
president and a majority of the cabinet, although the Spanish posts in 
Florida were restored. 

When the congressional investigation had terminated favorably to Gen- 
eral Jackson, he visited the cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New 
York, and various other parts of the United States, being received with 
enthusiasm by his friends in all quarters, and with distinguished attention 
by the public authorities and others. 

In June, 1821, the president appointed him governor of Florida, which 
office he accepted, and in August he took possession of the territory, accord- 
ing to the treaty of cession. The Spanish governor, Callava, having re- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 157 

fused to give up certain public documents, deemed of importance, he was 
taken into custody, by order of Governor Jackson, and committed to prison. 
The papers being found, under a search-warrant issued by Jackson, Callava 
was immediately set at liberty. Jackson remained but a few months in 
Florida ; for, disliking the situation, and disapproving of the extent of pow- 
ers vested in him as governor, he resigned the office and again retired to 
Tennessee. President Monroe offered him the appointment of minister 
to Mexico, which he declined in 1823. 

In July, 1822, General Jackson was nominated by the legislature of 
Tennessee as a candidate for president of the United States. This nom- 
ination was repeated by assemblages of the people in several other states. 
In the autumn of 1823, he was elected by the legislature a senator from 
Tennessee, and took his seat in the senate of the United States in De- 
cember, 1823. He voted for the protective tariff of 1824. 

The popularity of General Jackson with the people of the United States, 
was shown at the presidential election of 1824, when he received a greater 
number of electoral votes than either of his competitors, namely, ninety- 
nine. Mr. Adams received eighty-four, Mr. Crawford forty-one, and Mr. 
Clay thirty-seven. The election consequently devolved on the house of 
representatives, where, by the constitutional provision, the decision is 
made by states. Mr. Adams was elected by that body, receiving the 
votes of thirteen states ; General Jackson seven states ; and Mr. Craw- 
ford four states. The result caused much dissatisfaction among the 
friends of General Jackson, but a large proportion of those who had sup- 
ported Mr. Crawford, as well as most of those who had supported Mr. 
Clay, preferred Mr. Adams to General Jackson. 

During General La Fayette's visit to the United States in 1824-5, he 
passed through Tennessee, and was received by General Jackson, at the 
Hermitage, with his accustomed hospitality. 

After the election of Mr. Adams to the presidency, the opposition to his 
administration was soon concentrated upon General Jackson as a candi- 
date to succeed him. In October, 1825, he was again nominated by the 
legislature of Tennessee for president, on which occasion he resigned his 
seat in the senate of the United States, in a speech delivered to the legis- 
lature, giving his views on public affairs. During the exciting canvass 
which resulted in his election to the presidency in 1828, by a majority of 
more than two to one, of the electoral votes, over Mr. Adams, he remained 
in private life. 

In January, 1828, he was present, by invitation, at New Orleans, at the 
celebration of the anniversary of his victory. Before departing for Wash- 
ington, in 1829, to take the reins of government, he met with a severe 
affliction in the death of Mrs. Jackson. This loss bore heavily upon him 
for some time, and he came into power with gloomy feelings. He reached 
the national capital early in February, in a plain carriage. 



158 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSO?J. 

The events of his administration are given in the Statesman's Manual, 
to those pages the reader is referred for the history of eight years of his 
life. In 1832 he was re-elected to the presidency; and at the close of 
his second term, in March, 1837, having published a farewell address to 
the people of the United States, he retired to his favorite residence, at 
the Hermitage, in Tennessee, where he passed the remnant of his days, 
generally a quiet, but not disinterested spectator of public events. He 
was a member of the presbyteriau church, and religious faith and confi- 
dence appear to have soothed and cheered all the latter period of his life. 
For the last year or two of his life he was infirm of body, but retained his 
mental faculties undiminished up to the hour of his decease, which took 
place on the 8th of June, 1845. His countrymen throughout the United 
States joined in testimonials of respect to his memory. He left no blood 
relatives, and his estate was bequeathed to members of the Donelson fam- 
ily, who were the relations of Mrs. Jackson. 

The violence of political strife will long confuse men's judgment of the 
character and abilities of General Jackson ; but all will accord to him the 
praise of great firmness, energy, decision, and disinterestedness ; of re- 
markable military skill, and ardent patriotism. _ With regard to his qualifi- 
cations and services as a statesman, his countrymen have been and are 
divided in opinion. It is, perhaps, not yet time to speak decisively on 
this point, but it must be left for the impartial verdict of posterity. 

The personal appearance and private character of General Jackson are 
thus described by his friend and biographer, Mr. Eaton, previous to his 
election to the presidency : " In the person of General Jackson is per- 
ceived nothing of the robust and elegant. He is six feet and an inch 
high, remarkably straight and spare, and weighs not more than one hun- 
dred and forty-five pounds. His conformation appears to disqualify him 
for hardship ; yet, accustomed to it from early life, few are capable of 
enduring fatigue to the same extent, or with less injury. His dark blue 
eyes, with brows arched and slightly projecting, possess a marked ex- 
pression ; but when from any cause excited, they sparkle with peculiar 
lustre and penetration. In his manners he is pleasing — in his address 
commanding ; while his countenance, marked with firmness and decision, 
beams with a strength and intelligence that strikes at first sight. In his 
deportment there is nothing repulsive. Easy, affable, and familiar, he is 
open and accessible to all. Influenced by the belief that merit should 
constitute the only difference in men, his attention is equally bestowed on 
honest poverty as on titled consequence. His moral character is without 
reproach ; and by those who know him most intimately he is most esteemed. 
Benevolence in him is a prominent virtue. He was never known to pass 
distress without seeking to assist and to relieve it." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OF 



MARTIN VAN BUREN, 



The seven presidents of the United States whose lives and administra- 
tions we have noticed in the preceding pages, it will have been observed, 
were all descended from emigrants from the British isles ; their official 
terms occupy a space of forty-eight years, or nearly half a century from 
the adoption of the constitution ; and each of them had witnessed the pe- 
riod when the nation acquired her independence. We now enter upon a 
new era, and, leaving those whose early lives carry our memories back to 
the men and the times of our revolutionary struggle, we proceed to sketch 
the career of our eighth president, who, to use his own words, " unlike all 
who have preceded him, was born after the revolution was achieved ;" 
belonging, also, to another race by descent, as well as to a later age. 

The ancestors of Mr. Van Buren, both paternal and maternal, were 
among the early emigrants from Holland to the colony of New Nether- 
lands, now the state of New York. The family have always resided in 
the ancient town of Kinderhook, Columbia county, on the east bank of the 
Hudson river. The father of the president, Abraham Van Buren, was a 
farmer of moderate circumstances, who is represented to have been an 
upright and intelligent man, of strong common sense, and pacific disposi- 
tion. The maiden name of the mother of the president was Hoes, also of 
Dutch descent. The name was originally Goes, and was one of some dis- 
tinction in the history of the Netherlands. She was twice married ; first 
to Mr. Van Men, by whom she had two sons and a daughter, all of whom 
have been many years deceased. James I. Van Alen was a respectable law- 
yer of Columbia county, who was honored with several important offices, 
and with whom his younger half-brother was connected in business at his 
entrance to the bar. 

The mother of Mr. Van Buren was distantly connected with the family 
of his father before their marriage. She was distinguished for her amia- 



160 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 

ble disposition, sagacity, and exemplary piety. She survived until 1818, 
four years after the death of her second husband. 

Martin Van Buren is the eldest son of these parents. He was born at 
Kinderhook, December, 5, 1782. At an early age he exhibited indica- 
tions of a superior understanding. His opportunities of instruction were 
limited, probably on account of the moderate property of his father, who 
had two other sons, and two daughters.* 

After acquiring the rudiments of an English education, he became a 
student in the academy, in his native village. He there made considera- 
ble progress in the various branches of English literature, and gained some 
knowledge of Latin. It may be inferred, however, that all these acquisi- 
tions were not great in amount, as he left the academy, when but fourteen 
years of age, to begin the study of his profession. 

At that early period he evinced a strong passion for extempore speak- 
ing and literary composition. Even at that early age, too, he is repre- 
sented, by those who knew him, to have had a spirit of observation, with 
regard to public events, and the personal dispositions and characters of 
those around him, which gave an earnest of his future proficiency in the 
science of politics and of the human heart. 

Tn the year 1796, at the age of fourteen, Mr. Van Buren commenced 
the study of the law, in the office of Francis Sylvester, Esq., a respecta- 
ble lawyer of Kinderhook. The courts of law in the state of New York 
have adhered more closely to the English forms of practice than has been 
done in most of the other states. The period of study preparatory to ad- 
mission to the bar, was seven years, for candidates who, like the subject 
of this memoir, had not the benefit of a collegiate education. 

The management of cases in courts held by justices of the peace, not 
unfrequently devolved upon students at law. The early indications of 
ability as a speaker and reasoner, which were exhibited by Mr. Van Bu- 
ren, occasioned his almost incessant employment in trials in these courts, 
from the earliest period of commencing the study of his profession. His 
father was a firm whig in the revolution, and a democrat in the days of 
John Adams ; and the son was educated in the same principles, and of 
course formed his most intimate connexion with persons of the same po- 
litical faith. The democratic party was then a small minority in the 
town and county of his nativity. His political opinions, as well as his 
talents, led to his employment by the members of his own party, in their 
controversies with regard to personal rights, and rights of property. It 
often happened that, in the management of cases, he encountered men of 
age, talent, and high standing in the profession. 

At this early period Mr. Van Buren was an ardent and active politician. 
It was his constant habit to attend all meetings of the democratic party, to 
study with attention the political intelligence of the day, and to yield his 

• For part of this memoir we are indebted to Professor Holland's Life of Van Buren. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 161 

most zealous aid lo the principles he held to be true. As early as 1800, 
•when only in his eighteenth year, and still a student at law, he was depu- 
ted by the republicans in his native town, to attend a convention of dele- 
gates to nominate a candidate for the legislature. He had similar marks 
of the confidence of his political friends, on other occasions during his 
minority. 

The last year of Mr. Van Buren's preparatory studies was passed in 
the city of New York, in the office of Mr. William P. Van Ness, and un- 
der his direction. This gentleman was a native of Columbia county, but 
at that time a distinguished member of the bar in the city of New York, 
and a very conspicuous leader of the democratic party. In this situation 
Mr. Van Buren had every possible advantage for improvement ; and his 
thirst for knov/ledge, together with his aptitude in acquiring it, enabled 
him to make great advances. 

Mr. Van Ness was a devoted and intimate friend of Colonel Aaron Burr 
at that time vice-president of the United States ; and in the feud which 
sprung up after the presidential election, between the respective friends 
of the president and vice-president, Mr. Van Ness advocated the cause of 
Colonel Burr, through the public press, with signal ability. Through the 
medium of this gentleman, Mr. Van Buren was introduced to the notice of 
the vice-president, who was led, by his knowledge of the young lawyer's 
activity and influence in his native county, as well as by a quick-sighted 
observation of the future eminence promised by his early display of tal- 
ent, to treat him with marked attention, and to make every reasonable 
effort to secure his favorable regard. The tact and ability displayed by 
Colonel Burr in the great political contest which resulted in elevating Mr. 
Jefferson and himself to the highest offices in the gift of the people, and 
the reputation he had acquired as a leader of the party, caused him to be 
looked upon as an oracle of political wisdom, particularly by young and 
ardent democrats, who were desirous of availing themselves of instruction 
from so experienced and influential a source. Among the maxims of 
Colonel Burr for the guidance of politicians, one of the most prominent 
was, that the people at elections were to be managed by the same rules 
of discipline as the soldiers of an army ; that a few leaders were to think 
for the masses ; and that the latter were to obey implicitly their leaders, 
and to move only at the word of command. He had, therefore, great con- 
fidence in the machinery of party, and that system of regular nominations 
in American politics of which he may perhaps be considered one of the 
founders. Educated as a military man, and imbibing his early views with 
regard to governing others, in the camp, it is not surprising that Colonel 
Burr should have applied the rules of military life to politics, and always 
inculcated the importance of discipline in the ranks of a party, to insure 
its ultimate success. In no part of the United States have these party 
rules been more constantly and rigidly enforced, than among the demo- 



162 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 

crats of the state of New York ; and to their steady adherence to them 
may be attributed the long succession of triumphs which have been 
achieved by the party with whom Mr. Van Buren has uniformly acted. 

In November, 1803, in the twenty-first year of his age, Mr. Van Buren 
was admitted, as an attorney at law, to the bar of the supreme court in the 
state of New York, and immediately returned to his native village, to com- 
mence the practice of his profession. He formed a partnership in busi- 
ness with the Hon. James I. Van Alen, a half-brother on his mother's 
side, and a gentleman who was considerably his senior. The bar of Co- 
lumbia county, at that time, embraced some of the most distinguished 
members of the legal profession in the state of New York, among whom 
were William W. Van Ness (afterward a judge of the supreme court of 
the slate), Elisha Williams, Thomas P. Grosvenor, and Jacob R. Van 
Rensselaer. Other names might be mentioned as then in the field of 
competition upon which the youthful subject of this sketch then entered. 
The state of political parties at the period shows the difficulties with 
which he contended. 

At the time when Mr. Van Buren commenced his professional career, 
the violence of party spirit was extreme throughout the country. The 
state of New York was fearfully agitated by its influence ; and in the 
county of Mr. Van Buren's residence, political dissensions were carried 
to the greatest extremities. The administration of the federal government 
had then passed, after a violent struggle, into the hands of the democratic 
party , but it was considered by no means certain that their ascendency 
would be of long continuance. In the state of New York generally, the 
democratic party triumphed in the elections after 1800 ; but in the county 
of Columbia the federal party long held the reins of power. The land- 
holders in Kinderhook and its vicinity had inherited large estates from a 
long line of wealthy ancestors, and had exercised, by proscription, an in- 
fluence over their tenants and the more recent emigrants, analogous in its 
nature, and almost in its extent, to the baronial prerogatives of feudal 
lords. The great mass of mercantile and professional men in the county 
were dependent upon these wealthy freeholders for patronage, as also 
were the laborers and mechanics, in a still greater degree. The mem- 
bers of these families were generally federalists, and looked with anxious 
disapprobation upon any efforts to extend popular rights. Toward the 
champions of the democracy they exhibited neither liberality nor tolera- 
tion, but carried on a warfare against them, both in public and private, of 
the most obstinate and embittered character. 

Mr. Van Buren's early exhibition of energy and talent attracted their 
attention, and no ordinary pains were taken to detach him from the con- 
nexion he had chosen with the democracy. The gentleman with whom 
he had studied his profession, Mr. Sylvester, and his relative and partner 
in business, Mr. Van Alen, were federalists, and by their example and 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 163 

■advice endeavored to withdraw him from a political connexion which they 
viewed as wrong, and injurious to his prospects in business. " Firmly fixed 
in the political faith of his father, who was a whig in the revolution, an 
anti-federalist in 1788, and an early supporter of Jefferson, the subject of 
this memoir," says his biographer, " shrunk not from the severe tests which 
were applied to the strength and integrity of his convictions. Without 
patronage, comparatively poor, a plebeian by birth, and not furnished with 
the advantages of a superior education, he refused to worship, either at 
the shrine of wealth or power, but followed the dictates of his native judg- 
ment, and hesitated not, in behalf of the cause which he thus adopted, to 
encounter the utmost violence of his political enemies." 

Thus connected with the democratic party, he naturally became the 
vindicator, not only of their political faith, but of their legal rights. The 
conflicts in which he engaged, rapidly invigorated and enlarged his natu- 
ral powers. It was soon seen that he was able to cope with the ablest 
of his opponents in the local courts. In 1807 he was admitted as a coun- 
sellor in the supreme court, where he was brought into more immediate 
collision with the most distinguished members of the profession. In 
1808 he was appointed surrogate of Columbia county, soon after Avhich 
he removed to the city of Hudson, where he resided during seven years, 
and rapidly advanced toward a high rank in his profession. In 1815 he 
was appointed attorney-general of the state, at which time his practice in 
the courts had become extensiA^e and lucrative. His career as a lawyer 
occupies a period of twenty-five years, and was closed in the spring 
of 1828. 

Mr. Van Buren was married in 1806, to Miss Hannah Hoes, who was 
distantly related to him before their marriage. The intimacy which re- 
sulted in this union, was formed in very early life. His ardent attachment 
to her was evinced on all occasions until the period of her decease, by 
consumption, in 1818. This lady left him a family of four sons, and Mr. 
Van Buren has since remained a widower. 

Having thus noted the professional and private life of Mr. Van Buren, 
it remains briefly to sketch his career as a politician and statesman. 

His first active participation in political affairs, was in the great contest 
■which preceded the elevation of Mr. Jefferson to the presidency, in 1801. 
At the early age of eighteen years we find him intrusted with the expres- 
sion of the political views of a portion of the democratic party, as we have 
already stated, in being chosen a delegate to a convention. His abilities 
were put in requisition on that occasion, in preparing an address to the 
electors of the district in which he resided. 

In the spring of 1804, he made his first appearance at the polls as an 
elector. At that election Morgan Lewis and Aaron Burr (then vice-presi- 
dent of the United States) were the opposing candidates for governor of 
New York. Both belonged to the democratic party, but the former re- 



164 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 

ceived the regular nomination of a majority of the democrats in the legis- 
lature, while the latter vvas supported by a smaller section of the party, 
and a portion of the federalists. In Columbia county Colonel Burr was 
warmly sustained by many leading politicians, among whom were some 
of Mr. Van Buren's best friends. During his own residence as a student 
at law in the city of New York, with Mr. William P. Van Ness, a friend 
of Burr, he had received many flattering marks of attention from the vice- 
president. But true to his own principles and the spirit of his party, Mr. 
Van ]}uren gave his vigorous and unhesitating support, to Mr. Lewis, at 
the hazard of a temporary estrangement from several valued democratic 
friends. 

In 1807 the antagonist candidates for governor were Morgan Lewis and 
Daniel D. Tompkins. The latter was then the candidate of a large ma- 
jority of the democratic party ; Governor Lewis receiving the suppoit of 
the federalists and a few democrats. Tompkins was elected by a large 
majority of votes ; he received Mr. Van Buren's most zealous and decided 
support on this occasion, also in 1810 and 1813 ; the views of these two 
leaders of the democratic party generally agreeing on the prominent polit- 
ical questions of the period. 

In 1808 Mr. Van Buren was appointed surrogate of Columbia county, and 
retained the office until February, 1813, when, the federalists having obtained 
the ascendency in the slate, he was removed. It may be here remarked, 
that the administration of Mr. Jefferson, during its whole course, received 
his constant support. The non-intercourse act, the embargo, and other 
measures of Mr. Jefl'erson, received his hearty concurrence. He warmly 
defended and justified the course of George Clinton, then vice-president 
of the United States, in giving his casting vote, in February, 1811, against 
the bill for renewing the charter of the first bank of the United States. It 
is curious to notice in this place, that the renewal of the charter of the 
bank was recommended by Mr. Gallatin, then secretary of the treasury, 
and sustained in the senate by William H. Crawford, two gentlemen whom 
Mr. Van Buren joined with others in recommending for president and vice- 
president of the United States in 1824. 

In 1812 Mr. Van Buren was, for the first time, a candidate for an elec- 
tive office, having been nominated as a senator from the counties then 
comprising the middle district of the state. His opponent was Edward P. 
Livingston, belonging also to the democracy ; a man of wealth and pow- 
erful family connexions, and supported by the bank democrats and the en- 
tire federal party of the district. The contest was one of the most violent 
ever known in the state, and resulted in the election of Mr. Van Buren, 
by a majority of about 200, in an aggregate of twenty thousand votes 
Thus, in the thirtieth year of his age, he was placed in the highest branch 
of the legislature of his native state. 

Previous to his election, the democratic members of the legislature of 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 165 

New York had, in the spring of 1812, nominated De Witt Clinton for 
president of the United States, and in November, 1812, the succeeding 
legislature met for the purpose of choosing presidential electors. On this 
occasion Mr. Van Buren took his seat in the senate, and voted for the 
electoral ticket which was elected, and which gave Mr. Clinton the vote 
of the state. In supporting the nomination of Mr. Clinton, Mr. Van Bu- 
ren consulted what he believed to be the wishes of the majority of the 
democratic party of the state. At the same time, he was an open and de- 
cided advocate of all the strong measures proposed against Great Britain 
during the session of Congress in 1811-'12, the war included. And, 
though in the choice of electors Mr. Clinton received the votes of some 
of the federal members of the legislature of New York, and was also sup- 
ported by that party in other states, Mr. Van Buren's relations to it were 
entirely unaltered. At the same session he was placed upon the commit- 
tee of the senate to answer the governor's speech, which answer he pre- 
pared and reported. It vindicated the justice of the war, and urged a vig- 
orous prosecution of it. At the ensuing session of the legislature, which 
commenced in 181.3, the political relations previously existing between 
Mr. Clinton and Mr. Van Buren were dissolved, and never again re- 
sumed. From the commencement of his legislative career, Mr. Van Bu- 
ren gave to all war measures the most decided and vigorous support ; 
among which was a plan for raising troops by classification. He sup- 
ported the re-election of Governor Tompkins, and, as chairman of the 
committee which made the nomination, he prepared the address to the re- 
publican electors of the state. 

In 1815, Mr. Van Buren received the appointment of attorney-general 
of the state of New York. The same year he was appointed by the legis- 
lature a regent of the university. In the spring of 1816 he was re-elected 
to the senate for the further period of four years. 

When the project of internal improvement in the state of New York, by 
canals from Lakes Erie and Champlain to the Hudson river, was brought 
before the legislature, in 1816, it was sustained with zeal and ability by 
Mr. Van Buren, who on this occasion received the personal thanks of 
Mr. Clinton, the great advocate of the measure, for his exertions in favor 
of the same. 

In 1817 De Witt Clinton was nominated for governor of the state of 
New York, in place of Daniel D. Tompkins, who had been elected vice- 
president of the United States, Mr. Van Buren acquiesced in this nomi- 
nation, though it was contrary to his individual wishes and opinions, and 
he had used his exertions to prevent it. The distinguished talents of Mr. 
Clinton, and his zealous efforts in promoting the great interests of the 
state, had so far won the respect and confidence of the people, that there 
was comparatively little opposition to his election, after his nomination. 
But, though he received nearly the unanimous vole of both the great po- 



1G6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 

litical parties tliroughout the state, the resuU proved that it was a deceit- 
ful calm which followed the election, and that, as a large portion of the 
democratic party were deadly hostile to the newly-elected governor, the 
elements for bitter party strife were only temporarily concealed. 

We must now revert to the presidential election of 1816, for the pur- 
pose of showing Mr. Van Buren's course in that affair, and the bearing 
that election had on the politics of New York. 

During the war. Governor Tompkins and Mr. Van Buren were consid- 
ered the leaders of the democratic party in the state of New York. The 
public services and great personal popularity of Governor Tompkins, in- 
duced President Madison to offer him a seat in his cabinet, as secretary 
of state, which office, however, he declined. As the secretary of state 
was then, according to established usage, heir apparent to the presidential 
chair, and the admitted favorite of the president for the time being, Gov- 
ernor Tompkins considered the offer of Mr. Madison as a commitment on 
the part of the administration to support him for the next president. It 
was therefore expected, in the state of New York, that Tompkins would 
succeed Madison as president ; and at a celebration of the return of peace, 
at Albany, in February, 1815, a splendid transparency was displaced, with 
the names of Tompkins and Crawford inscribed thereon. This indicated 
that the latter was expected to be nominated for vice-president. 

The democratic members of the New York legislature, in February, 
1816, instructed the members of Congress from the state to sustain the 
claims of Tompkins, and Mr. Van Buren visited Washington to aid his 
friend in the nomination. But his claims were not pressed in the con- 
gressional caucus which met in March, 1816; the contest in that body 
was between Monroe and Crawford, and the former was nominated by a 
small majority over the latter. Governor Tompkins was nominated for 
vice-president, a result at which he was much disappointed. Finding 
Tompkins out of the question for president, a majority of the New York 
delegation was rather ardent in support of Crawford. Mr. Van Buren 
took no decided part in the matter. Mr. Hammond, who was one of the 
New York delegation, remarks, that " if at Albany Mr. Van Buren was 
ardent in the support of Tompkins, at Washington, to say the least, he 
was philosophically calm and cool."* 

From this time forward Mr. Van Buren co-operated with the leading dem- 
ocratic politicians of Virginia ; and when it was determined by them that 
Mr. Crawford should be the successor of Mr. Monroe as president, Mr. 
Van Buren gave him his most zealous, though unsuccessful support, in the 
political campaign of 1824. 

Having determined to oppose the administration of Governor Clinton, 
Mr. Van Buren, being then a member of the senate of the state, com- 
menced, in 1818, the organization of that portion of the democratic party 
* Hammond's Political History of New York. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 167 

who were dissatisfied with the election of the governor. Hence arose the 
formation, under his auspices, of a small but formidable and secret asso- 
ciaiion of politicians at the seat of the state government, which received 
from their political opponents the cognomen of " the Albany regency." 
It was composed of persons holding offices under the state and the gen- 
eral governments, and a few other influential citizens of the democratic 
party ; and by skill, position, and party discipline, with the aid of a party 
press, this regency is supposed to have swayed the power and destinies 
of the state for more than a quarter of a century. It is proper to mention, 
however, that the existence of this Albany regency has been generally 
denied by the friends of Mr. Van Buren. 

The difficulties in the democratic party between the respective friends of 
Mr. Van Buren and Governor Clinton, soon widened into an open rupture. 
A large majority of the democrats of the state followed Mr. Van Buren, 
while most of the friends of the canal policy, and the great body of the 
federal party, with few exceptions, sustained Governor Clinton. The 
council of appointment being devoted to the views of Governor Clinton, in 
July, 1819, removed Mr. Van Buren from the office of attorney-general, 
the duties of which he had discharged for more than four years, during 
which period he had also been a member of the senate. 

The opposition to Governor Clinton constantly increased in violence, 
and in the senate of the state there was a majority against him during the 
whole period of his administration. The most strenuous exertions were 
made by his democratic opponents to prevent his re-election. Mr. Van 
Buren took the lead in their efforts, and the vice-president, Daniel D, 
Tompkins, was prevailed upon to become the opposing candidate for gov- 
ernor. The contest was close and animated, Mr. Clinton being success- 
ful by a majority of 1,457 out of 93,437 votes. The whole number 
of votes against him on his former election was but twenty-two more than 
his present majority. Both houses of the legislature, and the council of 
appointment, however, were decidedly anti-Clintonian. A restoration to 
the office of attorney-general was now tendered to Mr. Van Buren, but 
was declined by him. 

The legislature having failed to elect a senator of the United States, in 
1819, in place of Mr. Rufus King, whose term of service expired that 
year, a pamphlet was prepared by Mr. Van Buren, shortly before the 
meeting of the succeeding legislature, in 1820, in favor of the election by 
the democratic party of Mr. King to the senate for another term of six 
years. Mr. King, it will be remembered, was a federalist, and had been 
one of the most prominent leaders of that party in the United States, while 
they acted as an organized political body. Mr. Van Buren and his friends 
had refused to vote for Mr. King in the legislature of 1819, but his elec- 
tion was now urged on democrats, in consequence of his having supported 
the last war ; his revolutionary services, and his present opposition to Mr. 



168 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 

Clinton, were assigned as further reasons for supporting him. The real 
object of the pamphlet was to draw in a portion of the federalists through- 
out the state, to the support of Mr. Tompkins in the then approaching 
election. The friends of Mr. Van Buren were in the minority in the 
legislature, and were, therefore, compelled to choose between Mr. King, 
or some other federalist, and a friend of Governor Clinton. The result 
was, the election of Mr. King, by the legislature, by a vote nearly unani- 
mous, the Clintonians also supporting him. 

At the same session of the legislature, a resolution was adopted, in- 
structing their senators, and requesting the representatives of the state in 
Congress, to oppose the admission of Missouri, or any other territory into 
the Union, without making the prohibition of slavery therein an indispen- 
sable condition of admission. The senate concurred in this resolution 
from the assembly without division or debate, and among the senators Mr. 
i,Van Buren, though it was not brought before the legislature by his agen- 
cy. Still, he must be regarded as having concurred, at that time, in the 
sentiment of the resolution thus adopted by the legislature.* 

Mr. Van Buren was, in February, 1821, elected by the legislature of 
New York, a member of the senate of the United States, in place of Na- 
than Sanford, whose term of service expired in March, 1821. Mr. San- 
ford was a democrat and a candidate for re-election, but at the legislative 
caucus, which was attended by eighty-two democratic members, Mr. Van 
Buren received fifty-eight votes, and Mr. Sanford twenty-four. The Clin- 
tonians and federalists in the legislature voted for Mr. Sanford, who re- 
ceived sixty votes, and Mr. Van Buren eighty-six votes. Thus it will be 
observed, that Mr. Sanford was the preference of a large majority of the 
legislature, and without the agency of a caucus nomination Mr. Van Bu- 
ren could not have been chosen. 

A convention to revise the constitution of the state of New York, was 
chosen by the people in 1821, and assembled in August of that year. Mr. 
Van Buren, then United States senator elect, was elected a member of 
the convention, by the democrats of Otsego county, although he then resi- 
ded in the city of Albany. 

In this convention, which comprised many of the most able and influ- 
ential men in the state, Mr. Van Buren took an active and leading part. 
There were three classes of politicians in that body : first, those opposed 
to any important changes in the old constitution of 1777, except the abo- 
lition of the council of appointment and the council of revision ; second, 
those in favor of moderate changes in the constitution, of the abolition 
of the freehold qualification for voters, and the reasonable extension of 
the elective franchise ; third, the radicals, or those in favor of universal 
suffrage, and an entire and radical change in the form of government. Mr. 
Van Buren belonged to the second of these classes, and his course in the 

• Holland. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 169 

convention was generally conservative. He advocated an extension of 
the right of suffrage to citizens paying taxes, being householders, and 
working on the highways, or doing military duty ; he expressed his 
fears that the extension of the elective franchise contemplated by some 
of the amendments proposed, would not be sanctioned by the puWic 
approbation, and would occasion the rejection of the whole by the 
people. He said, " he was disposed to go as far as any man ia the 
extension of rational liberty ; but he could not consent to undervalue this 
precious privilege so far as to confer it, with an indiscriminating hand, 
upon every one, black or white, who would be kind enough to condescend 
to accept it." By the first constitution of New York, no distinction 
was made with regard to color, in the qualifications of electors. In the 
convention, a proposition to restrict the right of voting to white citizens, 
Avas rejected by a majority of four votes. Mr. Van Buren voted with 
the majority, or in favor of continuing the right of voting to colored citi- 
zens ; but subsequently supported a proposition, which Avas adopted, re- 
quiring colored voters to possess a freehold estate of the value of two 
hundred and fifty dollars. Mr. Van Buren opposed the election of justi- 
ces of the peace by the people, and the convention adopted a plan pro- 
posed by him, by which the executive of the state, through the judges of the 
county courts, controlled those appointments. This plan only continued in 
operation about four years, when the constitution was amended, giving the 
choice of justices to the people. The proposition which was adopted by 
the convention to reorganize the judiciary of the state, and sanctioned by 
the party with which he acted, was opposed by Mr. Van Buren, the only 
effect of it being to displace the judges then in office. On the whole, it 
may be remarked, that his course in the convention to revise the constitu- 
tion, was considered honorable to him as a stateman, and, with few ex- 
ceptions, was approved by candid men of all parties. 

In December, 1821, Mr. Van Buren took his seat in the senate of the 
United States, his colleague from New York at this time being the Hon- 
orable Rufus King. On his first appearance in the senate, he was placed 
on the committee of finance, and on the committee on the judiciary. He 
took an active part in debate on most of the important subjects which were 
agitated in that branch of Congress during his senatorial career. He sup- 
ported Colonel Johnson's efforts to abolish imprisonment for debt on 
actions in the United States courts. He proposed amendments to the 
judiciary system of the United States, and advocated a bankrupt law, to 
include corporations as well as persons. With regard to the public lands, 
he was in favor of a proposition to vest the lands in the states in which 
they were situated on " some just and equitable terms." 

When the question of a successor to Mr. Monroe for the presidency 
was agitated, Mr. Van Buren took an early and decided part in favor of 
Mr. Crawford, whose election he labored to bring about by the aid of 



170 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 

party machinery and discipline, particularly the system of regular nomi- 
nations, as established in the state of New York, and had been practised 
by the democratic party in previous nominations of president and vice- 
president, by a caucus of members of Congress. The congressional cau- 
cus which nominated Mr. Crawford, in February, 1824, proved a signal 
failure, as it was attended by only about one fourth of the whole number 
of the members of Congress. In the state of New York, where the 
friends of Mr. Van Buren had defeated a law proposed to provide for the 
choice of presidential electors by the people, and retained the choice in 
the legislature, Mr. Crawford only obtained five of the thirty-six electoral 
votes of the state. The election of president devolved on the house of 
representatives, and Mr. Adams was elected on the first ballot, receiving 
the vote of New York, although the friends of Mr. Van Buren adhered to 
Mr. Crawford. 

In the gubernatorial election in the state of New York, in 1824, the 
party which acted with Mr. Van Buren met with a decisive defeat, and De 
Witt Clinton was elected governor. The next year, however, the party 
recovered its power in the state ; but Mr. Clinton was re-elected in 1826, 
and continued in office until his death, in February, 1828. 

Mr. Van Buren took an active part in the opposition which was organ- 
ized against the administration of Mr. Adams immediately after his elec- 
tion to the presidency. He opposed the mission to Panama, and most of 
the bills for internal improvement. His personal feelings were adverse to 
a high tariff of duties for protection, but as his constituents were gen- 
erally in favor of protective duties, he voted for the tariff laws of 1824 
and 1828. 

In February, 1827, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected to the United States 
senate for another term of six years, by the legislature of New York. 
Circumstances, however, soon occurred to cause his resignation. He was 
zealous and active in sustaining General Jackson for the presidency in 
opposition to Mr. Adams, in 1828. Governor Clinton, who was also fa- 
vorable to the election of Jackson, died suddenly, in February, 1828. This 
event induced the political friends of Mr. Van Buren to nominate him for 
governor of the state, to succeed Mr. Clinton, and he was elected to that 
office in November, 1828. 

Having resigned his seat in the senate of the United States, Mr. Van 
Buren entered upon the duties of the office of governor, January 1, 1829. 
His message to the legislature was remarkable for the attention bestowed 
upon banks and the currency. On the 20lh of January, in a brief mes- 
sage, he introduced to the legislature the celebrated safety-fund system. 
This plan originated with the Hon. Joshua Forman, and was by him laid 
before Mr. Van Buren. It was somewhat modified by the suggestion of 
the latter, and finally adopted by the legislature. The safety-fund system 
combined the moneyed interests of the state in a league of mutual depend- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 171 

ence, but the experience of a few years proved its inadequacy to answer 
public expectation. 

Mr. Van Buren remained but a short time in the chief magistracy of his 
native state. On the 12th of March, 1829, he resigned the office of gov- 
ernor, in consequence of his appointment as secretary of state of the Uni- 
ted States. Of this appointment, General, Jackson (who was said to have 
intended to have offered it to Governor Clinton, had he lived) said, in his 
letter to the democratic members of the legislature of New York, in Feb- 
ruary, 1832 : " In calling him [Mr. Van Buren] to the department of state, 
from the exalted station he then occupied, I was not influenced more by 
his acknowledged talents and public services, than by the general wish of 
the republican party throughout the Union." 

An account of Mr. Van Buren's course as secretary of state, together 
with the causes of the dissolution of the cabinet, will be found in 
the Statesman's Manual, Jackson's administration. In June, 1831, 
Mr. Van Buren retired from the office of secretary of state, and was im- 
mediately appointed by the president minister to Great Britain. He ar- 
rived in London in September, 1831, and was received with distinguished 
favor at the court of St. James. 

Soon after the meeting of Congress, the president submitted the nomi- 
nation of Mr. Van Buren to the senate. He was rejected by that body, in 
consequence of their disapproval of the instructions which he issued, while 
secretary of state, to Mr. M'Lane, our minister to England, in reference to 
the West India trade. 

The democratic party condemned the rejection of Mr. Van Buren as an 
act of political persecution, and vindicated the propriety of his course. 
The democratic members of the legislature of New York addressed a, let- 
ter to the president, expressing their indignation at what they deemed a 
proscriptive act of the senate, and their high respect for the public and 
private character of Mr. Van Buren. The president, in reply, assumed 
the entire responsibility of the instructions condemned by the senate ; de- 
clared they were " the result of his own deliberate investigation and reflec- 
tion, and still appeared to him to be entirely proper and consonant to his 
public duty." 

On the 22d of May, 1832, Mr. Van Buren was nominated as a candi- 
date for vice-president, by a national democratic convention assembled at 
Baltimore, and at the same time with the renomination of General Jack- 
son for president. The result was the triumphant election of both to the 
respective offices to which they were nominated, Mr. Van Buren receiv- 
ing the same number of electoral votes as General Jackson, with the ex- 
ception of those of Pennsylvania, the democracy of which state refused to 
give him their vote ; and it was given to William Wilkins, of that state. 

Mr. Van Buren returned from England to triumph over his political op- 
ponents, by being elevated to the second office in the government. He 



172 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 

was inaugurated as vice-president on the 4th of March, 1833, and presided 
over the senate for four years, when in session ; during which he had the 
good fortune to escape the censure of all parties. In 1833 he accompa- 
nied General Jackson in his tour to the eastern states. 

To secure the support of the democratic party as a candidate for the 
presidency, as successor to General Jackson, whose favor and good wishes 
he already possessed, Mr. Van Buren seems to have relied upon an 
avowal of hostility to a national bank, and on a national convention for the 
nomination of president and vice-president. Accordingly, we find him 
giving as a sentiment, at a public entertainment, " Uncompromising hos- 
tility to the United States bank ; the honor and interest of the country 
require it ;" which toast was adopted as a motto, by the democratic party. 
We also find the most strenuous efforts made to reconcile Pennsylvania to 
a national nominating convention, which efforts were finally successful. 

On the 20th of May, 1835, the Jackson democratic convention met at 
Baltimore, for the nomination of a candidate to succeed General Jackson 
as president, also a vice-president of the United States. About 600 dele- 
gates were in attendance ; and as all were selected as friends of Mr. Van 
Buren, he received the unanimous vote of the convention, for president. 
Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, was nominated for vice-presi- 
dent. These nominations, it was well imderstood, received the express 
approbation of General Jackson, and the influence of the administration 
was, of course, exercised in favor of the election of these candidates. 

The result of the vote by the electoral colleges was 170 for Mr. Van 
Buren, including Michigan (3), which was informal, and 124 for all other 
candidates. There was no choice of vice-president by the people, in con- 
sequence of the state of Virginia refusing to vote for Colonel Johnson. He 
received 147 electoral votes, including Michigan, and there were 147 for 
all other candidates. Colonel Johnson was, thereupon, elected by the sen- 
ate, agreeably to the constitution. 

Mr. Van Buren was inaugurated as president, on the fourth of March, 
1837. The history of the four years of his administration is given in the 
Stateman's Manuel, to which we refer for this part of his life. In 
May, 1840, he was nominated for re-election, by a convention of his po- 
litical friends, but such was the unpopularity of his measures as chief 
magistrate of the nation, that the election of 1840 resulted in the total 
defeat of Mr. Van Buren and the party with which he was connected, 
and the triumphant success of the whig candidates, General Harrison and 
Mr. Tyler, to the presidency and vice-presidency. The electoral votes 
for Harrison were 234 — for Van Buren 60. 

General Harrison succeeded Mr. Van Buren, as president, on the 4th 
of March. 1841 ; soon after which the ex-president left Washington for his 
seat at Kinderhook, Columbia county, New York, near the Hudson river, 
to which retreat he gave the name of " Lindenwold." He attended on the 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN. 173 

occasion of the funeral honors which were paid to General Harrison in 
the city of New York, in 1841. 

Having acquired, during an active professional and political life, a large 
fortune, Mr. Van Buren retired to his estate before mentioned, to enjoy the 
possession of his wealth, and retaining the confidence of the large and 
powerful party of his countrymen which had sustained him. His friends, 
however, were not willing that he should rest under the political sentence 
which had been pronounced against him, as they deemed, under fortuitous 
circumstances. It was argued that, as an act of justice to him, he should 
be elected for another term to the presidency, to place him in history 
along side of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Jackson, who were consid- 
ered as the four democratic presidents, each of whom had been honored 
with a second term in the presidential chair. The most strenuous efforts, 
therefore, were made to effect the nomination of Mr. Van Buren for the 
presidency, in 1844 ; and when the democratic national convention met 
to nominate a president, in May of that year, there was an apparent ma- 
jority of his friends in that body. But a new element was introduced into 
the political canvass for the presidency, by the democratic party, namely, 
the annexation of Texas to the United States. To that measure Mr. Van 
Buren had expressed himself adverse, in some particulars, in a letter to a 
southern gentleman, which was published previous to the meeting of the 
convention. Some of his friends regretted that he had not inserted a 
clause in his letter which, looking to the certain extension of the limits of 
the republic, would have been satisfactory to the democrats of the south. 
After protracted ballottings, it was found that Mr. Van Buren could not 
obtain the vote of two thirds of the delegates to the convention, as required 
by their rules. His name was therefore withdrawn, and James K. Polk, 
of Tennessee, received the nomination for president. 

In the nomination of Mr. Polk, Mr. Van Buren cordially acquiesced, 
and urged upon his political friends the propriety and importance of sus- 
taining the same in good faith. By the efforts of the democrats of New 
York, the election of Mr. Polk was effected, the popular majority in that 
important state, which turned the scale in favor of the democratic candi- 
dates, being but about one per cent, on the whole number of votes. 

We conclude this brief memoir of Mr. Van Buren with the following 
notice of his personal appearance and character, from his life, by Profes- 
sor Holland, written, of course, with all the partiality of friendship : — 

" In personal appearance, Mr. Van Buren is about the middle size ; his 
form is erect (and formerly slender, but now inclining to corpulence), and 
is said to be capable of great endurance. His hair and eyes are light, his 
features animated and expressive, especially the eye, which is indicative 
of quick apprehension and close observation ; his forehead exhibits in its 
depth and expansion, the marks of great intellectual power. The physi- 
ognomist would accord to him penetration, quickness of apprehension, and 



174 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VAN BUREN, 

benevolence of disposition. The phrenologist would add unusual reflec- 
tive faculties, firmness, and caution. 

" The private character of Mr. Van Buren is above all censure or sus- 
picion. In the relations of father and son, of husband, brother, and friend, 
he has always displayed those excellencies of character and feeling which 
adorn human nature. Extending our view to the larger circle of his per- 
sonal friends, rarely has any man won a stronger hold upon the confidence 
and affection of those with whom he has been connected. The purity of 
his motives, his integrity of character, and the steadiness of his attach- 
ments, have always retained for him the warm affection of many, even 
among the ranks of his political opponents. 

" The ease and frankness of his manners, his felicitous powers of con- 
versation, and the general amiableness of his feelings, render him the or- 
nament of the social circle. Uniting in his character, firmness and for- 
bearance ; habitual self-respect and a delicate regard for the feelings of 
others ; neither the perplexities of legal practice, nor the cares of public 
life, nor the annoyance of party strife, have ever been able to disturb the 
serenity of his temper, or to derange for a moment the equanimity of his 
deportment. He has with equal propriety mingled in the free intercourse 
of private life, and sustained the dignity of official station." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OF 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



The family of Harrison is one of the most ancient and honorable in the 
history of Virginia. x\mong the early settlers of the colony was a lineal 
descendant of that General Harrison who bore a distinguished part during 
the civil wars of England, in the army of the Commonwealth. 

Benjamin Harrison (of the same stock), the father of the subject of this 
memoir, was one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and 
among the most prominent of the illustrious men of his eventful day, hav- 
ing filled the executive chair of the " Old Dominion" at a period when 
moral daring and personal fearlessness were essential to the incumbent of 
that station. He was previously an active and influential member, both of 
the house of burgesses in Virginia, and of the continental Congress. Of 
the former body he was repeatedly chosen speaker, and in the latter, in 
June, 1776, he introduced the resolution which declared the independence 
of the colonies, and on the following fourth of July, as chairman of the 
committee of the whole, he reported the more formal declaration to 
which his signature is affixed. Governor Harrison died in 1791, after 
the most eminent public services, and the expenditure of an ample fortune 
in the cause of his country. 

William Henry Harrison, the third and youngest son of the preceding, 
and ninth president of the United States, was born on the 9lh of Febru- 
ary, 1773, at Berkeley, on the James river, in Charles city county, Vir- 
ginia. On the death of his father, he was placed under the guardianship 
of his intimate friend, Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania, the great financier 
of the revolution. Young Harrison was educated at Hampden Sidney 
college, in his native state, and afterward applied himself to the study of 
medicine as a profession. But before he had completed his course of 
studies as a physician, the barbarities of the Indians upon the western 
frontiers excited a feeling of indignation throughout the country. Har- 



176 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

risen resolved to give up his profession and join the army raised for the 
defence of the Ohio frontier. His guardian, Mr. Morris, attempted to 
dissuade him from his purpose, but his resolution was not to be shaken, 
and on communicating with General Washington, that distinguished man 
cordially approved of the patriotic determination of the son of his de- 
ceased friend and associate. 

At the age of nineteen, Harrison received from President Washington 
the commission of ensign in a regiment of artillery, and joined his corps 
at Fort Washington, on the Ohio, in 1791. A reinforcement was ordered 
to march for Fort Hamilton, on the Miami, a task which it required no or- 
dinary degree of courage to accomplish, as they had to pass through for- 
ests infested by hordes of the hostile tribes, and Harrison was chosen to 
the command of the body of men forming the escort. The dexterity and 
skill which he displayed in the prosecution of this arduous duty, gained 
for him the approbation of his commanding officer. General St. Clair. He 
rapidly gained the entire confidence of his officers, and in 1792 was pro- 
moted to the rank of lieutenant. 

During the following year Harrison joined the new army under the 
command of General Anthony Wayne, an officer whose intrepidity and 
daring impetuosity, accompanied at the same time with consummate skill, 
during the war of the revolution, obtained for him the title of " Mad An- 
thony." It was a period, indeed, worthy of such a man, for the repeated 
successes and incursions of the savage enemy had not only infused among 
the people generally, but even throughout the army itself, such terror and 
dread of these merciless foes, as greatly to paralyze their energies, and to 
render the duties of the commander extremely arduous and difficult. 
The instructions, indeed, which were forwarded by Congress to Gen- 
eral Wayne, contained the following ominous expression : " Another 
defeat would prove inexpressibly ruinous to the reputation of the gov- 
ernment ;" and consequently, in such a critical juncture, every avail- 
able facility was rendered him. On the 25th of May, 1792, he repaired 
to Pittsburg, which was selected as the place of rendezvous. The 
newly-organized army consisted of a major-general, four brigadier-gen- 
erals, with their respective staff's, the commissioned officers, and over five 
thousand rank and file ; which was designated, " the legion of the United 
States." Although this collective force had the effect of partially restor- 
ing the spirit and energy of the soldiers, they continued to desert in con- 
siderable numbers. To remedy this evil. General Wayne applied him- 
self at all intervals of leisure, to the disciplining of his troops, with unre- 
mitting assiduity. Thus it must be obvious, that the early military career 
of Harrison had but few attractions for those who were not, like him, ac- 
tuated solely by the true spirit of generous patriotism. 

Finding all amicable negotiations with the Indians unavailing, no alter- 
native was left to General Wayne but to adopt the most rigid and decisive 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 177 

measures ; accordingly we find him breaking up his winter quarters, about 
the end of April, 1793, and transporting his army in boats down the Ohio 
to Fort Washington, an outpost situated upon the site now occupied by the 
city of Cincinnati. Having at length received instructions from the sec- 
retary of war to commence active operations, he left Fort Washington in 
October, 1793, and advanced with his army along the southwestern branch 
of the Miami, where he took up his position, and erected fortifications. 
To this post he gave the name of Greenville, and here the army went into 
winter quarters. General Wayne sent a detachment to take possession 
of the ground on which General St. Clair and his army had been defeated 
by the Indians tAvo years before. Harrison volunteered for the service, 
and was accepted by the commander. 

The battle-ground was taken possession of by the troops, and a fortifi- 
cation erected, to which the name of Fort Recovery was given. The 
bones of the soldiers slain on the fatal 4th of November, 1791, were col- 
lected, and interred with military honors. The artillery lost on that occa- 
sion were recovered ; and on the return of the troops from the expedition, 
the name of Lieutenant Harrison, among others, was mentioned by Gen- 
eral Wayne, in his general order of thanks to the officers and men for 
their gallant conduct on the occasion. 

On the 30th of June, 1794, a fierce attack was made by large numbers 
of the Indians, upon the newly-constructed works at Fort Recovery ; they 
were, however, repeatedly repulsed, and the arrival of a body of militia 
from Kentucky enabled General Wayne to force them to retreat with 
great loss. 

Being reinforced by a body of mounted volunteers from Kentucky. 
General Wayne advanced seventy miles to Grand Glaize, in the very heart 
of the Indian territory. Here he erected a fort which he called Defiance, 
at the confluence of the Maumee and Au Glaize rivers. 

Agreeably with his instructions, General Wayne renewed his overtures 
of peace, which again being rejected by the Indians, he prepared to bring 
them to a decisive settlement. In the heroic engagement or battle of the 
Maumee rapids, which ensued, on the 20th of August, 1794, the consum- 
mate skill of the general, as well as the valor of his troops, were alike re- 
splendent with the important consequences which resulted from the action. 
In the official account of this battle, we also find the name of Lieutenant 
Harrison complimented by the commander-in-chief as his " faithful and 
gallant aid-de-camp," in having " rendered the most essential service by 
communicating his orders in every direction, and for his conduct and 
bravery, in exciting the troops to press for victory." The Indians now 
proposed to capitulate with General Wayne, and the result was, a treaty 
of peace was concluded, by which the United States obtained cessions 
of considerable tracts of land, as well as secured tranquillity to the border 
settlements. The news of Wayne's victory had a favorable eifect upon 
12 



178 • BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

our pending negotiations in London, and was supposed to have enabled 
the American special minister, Mr. Jay, to secure the assent of Lord 
Grenville to the surrender to the United States of all the forts held and 
occupied by the British in the northwest, within the jurisdiction of oui 
government. Thus undisputed possession of the territory northwest of the 
Ohio was obtained, and emigration to that country received a new and 
favorable impulse. 

Not long after the close of this campaign, Harrison was promoted to the 
rank of captain ; and as an additional proof of the confidence reposed in 
his discretion and ability, by General Wayne, he was placed in command 
of Fort Washington. While at this place (where Cincinnati now stands), 
being now about twenty-one years of age, he married the daughter of John 
Cleves Symmes, the founder of the Miami settlements. " She has been," 
says Mr. Hall in his memoir, " the faithful companion of this distinguished 
patriot during the various perils and vicissitudes of his eventful life, and 
still lives to witness the maturity of his fame, and the honors paid him by 
a grateful country." 

He continued in the army till the close of the year 1797, when, soon 
after the death of General Wayne, as peace had been ratified with the In- 
dians, and the opportunity to serve his country in the field appeared to 
exist no longer, he resigned his commission. Scarcely had this event 
transpired, than he was appointed, by President Adams, secretary and ex 
officio lieutenant-governor of the northwestern territory. While in this 
station, in October, 1799, he was elected, by the legislature of that terri- 
tory, their first delegate to Congress. He was at this time about twenty- 
six years of age, and took his seat in the house of representatives, at the 
first session of the sixth Congress, in 1799. Previous to proceeding to 
the seat of government, he resigned his office of secretary of the territory. 
In 1798, the northwestern territory contained five thousand white male 
inhabitants, and was admitted as a matter of right to the second grade of 
government, provided for in the ordinance of 1787. At that time great 
unanimity prevailed in the territory on political questions ; though the 
states were rent, and almost torn asunder, by party strife. The election 
of the elder Adams had met with general approbation among the people of 
the territory, and resolutions had been passed at popular meetings to sus- 
tain his administration, against the encroachments of France. An address 
was adopted by the legislature of 1799, to John Adams, president of the 
United States, approving of his administration. But few indiA'iduals were 
to be found who then advocated the election of Mr. Jefferson against Mr. 
Adams. Harrison having early imbibed democratic opinions, was one of 
the few who preferred Jefferson. His election as delegate to Congress 
was not effected by a party vote ; the same legislature which adopted the 
address to Mr. Adams with only five dissenting votes, elected Harrison by 
eleven votes, against ten for Arthur St. Clair, Jr. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 179 

Though he represented the territory but one year in Congress, Harrison 
obtained some important advantages for his constituents. He introduced 
a joint resolution to subdivide the surveys of the public lands, and to 
offer them for sale in small tracts ; he succeeded in getting that measure 
through both houses, in opposition to the interest of speculators who 
were, and who wished to be, the retailers of land to the poorer class of the 
community. His proposition became a lawr, and was hailed as the most 
beneficent act that Congress had ever done for the territory. It put it in 
the power of every industrious man, however poor, to become a freeholder, 
and to lay a foundation for the future support and comfort for his family. 
At the same session, he obtained a liberal extension of time for the pre- 
emptioners in the northern part of the Miami purchase, which enabled 
them to secure their farms, and eventually to become independent and 
even wealthy.* 

Congress, at that session, divided the northwestern territory, by estab- 
lishing the new territory of Indiana, of which Harrison was appointed 
governor. He also received the appointment of superintendent of Indian 
affairs, and resigned his seat in Congress. 

The new territory of Indiana then included not only the present state 
of Indiana, but those of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The seat of 
government was at Vincennes, a village on the Wabash. This large ex- 
tent of territory, however, contained but a scanty population, and therefore- 
according to the laws of the United States, the executive authority of the 
territorial government was very extensive. The governor possessed the 
power of negativing bills passed by the territorial legislature, of enforcing 
the laws, of the appointment of magistrates, of making townships, confirm- 
ing grants of lands, and other equally onerous duties ; which rendered the 
office one of peculiar and important responsibility. To one of less rigid 
integrity and scrupulous regard for the public interest, the opportunity was 
offered for much personal aggrandizement, and the acquisition of great 
wealth ; but this, it is well known, was never dreamed of by the individual 
who then occupied the trust. He never availed himself of the opportunity 
to enhance his own private interests, directly or indirectly ; and his honor 
and disinterested integrity were not even suspected. 

Besides being superintendent of Indian affairs, he was made commander- 
in-chief of the militia, and all the officers below the rank of general re- 
ceived their commissions from him. In 1803, Mr. Jefferson appointed 
him sole commissioner for treating with the Indians. By virtue of this 
authority, Harrison negotiated, in 1804, a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, 
establishing amicable relations with those tribes, and obtaining the cession 
of the largest tract of country ever yielded by the Indians at one time since 
the settlement of America, consisting of upward of fifty millions of acres 
of the valuable region between the river Illinois and the Mississippi, with 
• Judge Burnet's Letters. 



180 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

a northern boundary stretching from the head of Fox river to a point on 
the Wisconsin, thirty-six miles above its mouth. Considerable tracts of 
land between the Ohio and the Wabash, and extending from Vincennes 
westward to the Mississippi, were likewise purchased by annuities, from 
the Delaware and Miami Indians. 

Such was the high estimation with which his conduct as governor was 
regarded, that for a period of thirteen years, at the termination of every 
successive term of office, he was reappointed at the earnest solicitation of 
the people of the territory, and with the public expression of the most flat- 
tering approbation on the part of the president of the United States ; and 
this, notwithstanding the changes in the administration — his first appoint- 
ment having been made by Mr. Adams, his second and third by Mr. Jef- 
ferson, and the fourth by Mr. Madison. 

During the year 1806, the plans of the general government for the civ- 
ilizing and conciliating the Indian tribes, were entirely frustrated by the 
intrigues of the two celebrated chiefs of the Shawnee tribe, Tecumseh, 
and his brother, the Prophet. The aim of these chiefs was, to induce all 
the surrounding tribes to form a common league against the United States, 
for the purpose of preventing the settlements of the whites from being ex- 
tended farther west, and by making a simultaneous attack on the frontier 
settlements, to expel the whites from the valley of the west. The Ameri- 
can government was informed that British emissaries from Canada were 
employed in forming alliances with the most powerful chiefs, and foment- 
ing their hostility against the people of the United States. 

A variety of circumstances invested the Prophet with a prodigious in- 
fluence over the tribes ; he is said, indeed, to have possessed the faculty 
of appealing to them more eloquently and gracefully than almost any other 
Indian. He resorted to every imposture and stratagem of which even an 
Indian is capable, for the furtherance of his project ; asserting, among 
other absurdities, that he possessed the power of preventing the bullets of 
the enemy from taking effect upon his adherents. 

In the course of the subsequent year. Governor Harrison received intel- 
ligence of the hostile demonstration of the congregated tribes ; in conse- 
quence of which he sent a messenger to the Shawnees, strongly repre- 
hending their conduct, and warning them to refrain from further listening 
to the fatal instructions of the Prophet. The deluded and superstitious 
Indians, however, disregarding the admonition, continued to collect in 
great numbers in the vicinity of Fort Wayne, and having entirely neg- 
lected their cornfields, they soon began to find themselves in a state bor- 
dering upon starvation. Again, in the hope of conciliating them, the gov- 
ernor, with his accustomed humanity and policy, ordered them supplies 
forthwith from the public stores. 

The Prophet had now selected as his residence, a spot situated on the 
upper part of the Wabash, called Tippecanoe, where his infatuated fol- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 181 

lowers soon rejoined him. In July he visited the governor, when, with a 
cunning and duplicity common to his race, he loudly protested against the 
evils of war and the use of spirituous liquors, and affected the greatest de- 
sire for amity with the Americans. Governor Harrison was, however, too 
shrewd to be thus imposed upon by these specious pretences, and in his 
reply told him, that he might come forward and exhibit any title he might 
have to the lands transferred by the treaty, and that if it was found to be 
just and equitable, they would be restored, or an ample equivalent given 
for them. But the results of the interview proved anything but satisfactory 
to the absurd requirements of the Prophet, as he claimed all the lands that 
had formerly belonged to the several tribes, and insisted that their dispo- 
sal could not have been valid but with the consent of all the tribes in com- 
mon. Accordingly, he redoubled his exertions for the concentration of the 
western tribes, studiously guarding his movements from the governor, lest 
he should become apprized of his intentions. He had about him, at this 
time, one thousand warriors, and these continued to commit the most atro- 
cious deeds of depredation along the frontier, till at length even the gov- 
ernor's house was scarcely considered secure from their hostile attacks. 

In September, 1809, a council was convened at Fort Wayne, at which 
Governor Harrison negotiated with the Miamies, Delawares, Pottawatomies, 
and Kickapoos, for purchasing a large tract of country on both sides of 
the Wabash, extending along that river more than sixty miles above Vin- 
cennes. Tecumseh, who was at this time absent on a visit to some dis- 
tant tribes, expressed, on his return, great dissatisfaction, and threatened 
the lives of some of the chiefs who had concluded the treaty. On hear- 
ing this, the governor invited him to come to Vincennes, with the direc- 
tion that he should not be allowed to bring with him more than thirty 
warriors ; this restriction, however, he evaded, on the pretext of suspect- 
ing some treachery on the part of the Americans, and he, instead, brought 
with him four hundred men, armed. This circumstance alone was suffi- 
cient to excite the suspicions of the governor, but when, added to this, the 
chief refused to hold the council at the appointed place, which was under 
the portico of the governor's house, and insisted on having it take place 
under some adjacent trees, his apprehensions were still greater. At this 
council, held on the 12th of August, 1810, Tecumseh again complained 
of the alleged injustice of the- sale of their lands ; to which the governor 
replied, that as the Miamies had found it to their interest to make the dis- 
posal, the Shawnees, from a distant part of the country, could have no 
just ground for remonstrance, or right to control ■ them in their disposing 
of the properly. Tecumseh fiercely exclaimed, " It is false !" and giving 
a signal to his warriors, they sprang upon their feet, and seizing their 
war-clubs and tomahawks, they brandished them in the air, ferociously 
fixing their eyes upon the governor. The military escort of Harrison on 
the occasion numbered only twelve, and they were not near his person, 



182 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

having been directed by him to retire for shelter from the heat, under 
some adjacent trees. 

In this critical moment of excitement, the guard immediately advanced, 
and would have instantly fired upon the infuriated Indians, had it not been 
for the coolness and self-possession of Harrison, who, restraining them, 
and placing his hand upon his sword, said, in a calm, but authoritative 
tone, to Tecumseh : " You are a bad man : I will have no further talk 
with you. You must now take your departure from these settlements, and 
hasten immediately to your camp." On the following day, however, find- 
ing he had to deal with one so dauntless, Tecumseh solicited another in- 
terview, apologizing for his insolent aflront. The precaution was now 
taken to defend the town, and place the governor in an attitude more 
likely to command their respect, by having two companies of militia in 
attendance. At this council the chiefs of five powerful tribes rose up, de- 
claring their determination to stand by Tecumseh ; to which the governor 
replied, that " their decision should be reported to the president ;" but ad- 
ding, that he would most certainly enforce the claims of the treaty. Still 
anxious, if possible, to conciliate, rather than coerce the haughty chief, he 
paid him a visit the next day at his camp, when, repeating in substance 
what has already been given, Tecumseh replied : " Well, as the great 
chief is to determine the matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put sense 
enough into his head to induce him to direct you to give up this land. It 
is true, he is so far off that he will not be injured by the war "; he may sit 
still in his town and drink his wine, while you and I will have to fight it 
out." Shortly after this, the Shawnee chief withdrew to Tippecanoe, the 
residence of the Prophet, where he is said to have formed a combination 
of several tribes. 

In July, 1811,another messenger was sent, commissioned by the governor 
to demand the surrender of two Pottawatomie murderers who were at Tip- 
pecanoe, but without the desired efi'ect. Indeed, such were the lawless and 
daring outrages which they now committed upon the more exposed settle- 
ments on the frontier, that at length, through the earnest solicitations of 
the people, directions were forwarded from the federal government to the 
governor to march forthwith against the Prophet's town with an armed 
force, with this injunction, however, " to avoid hostilities of any kind or 
degree not absolutely necessary." These instructions rendered the situa- 
tion of Harrison one of great delicacy and responsibility, being equivalent 
to allowing the Indians the right of commencing the action. 

The receipt of the governor's authority was hailed by the settlers with 
great enthusiasm, as they had long sufl'ered severely from the incursions 
of these ruthless marauders, and, reposing unlimited confidence in the 
skill and courage of their commander, they viewed the measure as the 
only one which could insure to them the continued possession of their 
property, and even of life itself. Accordingly, a hastily-asseuibled forte. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 183 

consisting of about nine hundred men, commenced its march from Fort 
Harrison, which was situated about sixty miles above Vincennes, on the 
28th of October. After a protracted and somewhat difficult advance, 
through open prairies, thick woods, and deep ravines, constantly on their 
guard against surprise, they arrived within sight of the Indian town. 
Here the enemy began to appear in considerable numbers. Wearied 
with the fatigue of their expedition, after a brief conference, the troops 
encamped ; every precaution having been taken, however, to prevent 
surprise by the savages, as they apprehended an attack during the night. 

In conformity to a general order, the troops rested in their clothes and 
accoutrements, their loaded muskets by their sides, and their bayonets 
fixed. The officers, of course, rested like the soldiers — the governor 
being ready to mount his horse in an instant. The night passed without a 
sound, and the governor and his aids rose a quarter before four, and were 
conversing around their fire. The new moon had risen, but afforded little 
light, the sky being obscured by ragged clouds, from which a drizzling 
rain fell at intervals. In a few minutes the signal would have been given 
to call the men to arms, when a blaze from Indian rifles lighted up the 
scene. The savage warriors had crept up as near the sentries as possible, 
in the darkness, intending to rush forward and despatch them without noise, 
and then fall upon their sleeping comrades in the camp. But one senti- 
nel discovered what he rightly suspected to be an Indian creeping 
through the grass, and instantly gave him the contents of his musket. 
That discharge settled all doubts. Our men were started to their feet by 
a tremendous yell from a thousand savages, accompanied by a general 
volley from their rifles, and a desperate charge into the camp. But they 
found as warm a welcome. Every man rose on the post assigned him, 
with musket in hand, ready for thrust or rally. The attack centred on 
the sharp rear angle of the left flank, which was for some minutes ex- 
posed to a destructive fire. But this angle was promptly reinforced, and 
the enemy beaten back with loss, several being killed within the lines of 
the camp. The fires, which first served to direct the aim of the savage 
rifle, were promptly extinguished. But the enemy had still the advantage 
of shelter in the bushes and grass, and a knowledge of the ground, which 
rendered a charge upon them in the darkness almost certain destruction. 
An attempt Ajjas volunteered to rout them from their hiding-places, by a 
company headed by the gallant Jo. Daviess, but repulsed with loss, and 
among the slain was their lamented leader. 

The battle still raged with desperation. The savages were bent on 
victory, and well organized for the contest, advancing and retreating by a 
rattling noise made with deers' hoofs. The governor was at every point 
of danger ; animating and encouraging the men where hardest pressed, 
ordering nip companies to their support, and courting danger as if una- 
ware of its existence. All of the troops were conducted and formed by 



184 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

himself. It need not be added that every man stood his ground like 
a hero. 

The battle was fierce, but daylight at length broke on the combatants — 
a light most welcome to our harassed soldiers — fatal to their foes. The 
assailed left flank was fully strengthened, the dragoons were mounted, 
and, covered by them, a general charge was made upon the now baffied 
and dispirited enemy. The Indians gave way, and were driven into a 
swamp, through which the cavalry could not force their way. Repulsed 
in all quarters, the savages disappeared from the field, and the battle of 
Tippecanoe was at an end. 

Such was the extraordinary influence that the Prophet retained over the 
minds of the infatuated savages, that they are said to have fought with 
desperate and unprecedented valor on the occasion, although he himself 
was snugly ensconced on some neighboring eminence, simply regaling his 
devotees with war-songs,*and practising absurd incantations. Tecumseh 
also was, at the time, absent on a visit to some southern tribes. 

The battle of Tippecanoe may unquestionably be regarded as one of 
the most memorable and decisive engagements ever fought with the Indi- 
ans. The intrepidity and self-possession of the commander was also sig- 
nally displayed on the occasion. " In the very heat of the action," says 
a contemporary record, " his voice was distinctly heard, giving orders in 
the same cool and collected manner with which he had been accustomed 
when on drill or parade ; nor was his personal bravery less conspicuous, 
as he was ever foremost in leading on his troops, regardless of the pecu- 
liar danger to which he was exposed, from the circumstance of his 
being known to most of the Indians, and being the marked object of their 
hostility." In the message of the president to Congress, of December 
18th, 1811, the following allusion is made, which is as highly compli- 
mentary to the conduct of the governor as it is expressive of the impor- 
tance attached to the action itself, and it must have been no mean achieve- 
ment which could win from the federal government such decided terms 
of approbation and honor. " While it is to be lamented," says Mr. Madi- 
son, " that so many valuable lives have been lost in the action which took 
place on the 9th ult., Congress will see with satisfaction the dauntless 
spirit and fortitude victoriously displayed by every description of troops 
engaged, as well as the collected firmness which distinguished their 
commander on an occasion requiring the utmost exertion of valor and 
discipline."* 

The decisive blow which Harrison had struck against the Indian 

* The legislatures of Kentucky and Indiana also recorded their resolutions regarding the 
conduct of flarrison in this battle. The former is as follows : " Resolved, That in the late 
campaign against the Indians on the Wabash, Governor Harrison has, in the opinion of this 
legislature, behaved like a hero, a patriot, and a general ; and that, for his cool, deliberate, 
skilful, and gallant conduct in the late battle of Tippecanoe, he deserves the weirmest 
thanks of the nation." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 185 

power had produced a more powerful effect than all the admonitory 
efforts of years had accomplished. Several of the tribes sent deputies to 
wait upon him with assurances of renewed amity, and a disavowal of fur- 
ther connexion with the hostile bands of Tecumseh. In February, 1812, 
intelligence that no less than eighty Indians, deputies from all the tribes 
who were engaged in the late hostilities, except the Shawnees, had ar- 
rived at Fort Harrison, on their way to Vincennes. Suspicion being 
again naturally aroused, from their numbers, that a new treachery was de- 
signed, the governor sent an expostulation, requiring them to come in less 
numbers and unarmed ; they, however, not only delivered up their arms, 
but evinced the subdued deportment of men who had been taught to 
respect the authority of him with whom they had come to treat. 

Meanwhile, Tecumseh had returned from the south, and notwithstand- 
ing the sad reverse which his cause had sustained during his absence, the 
commencement of hostilities with Great Britain found for him an ally both 
able and eager to second his plans, thus neutralizing in part the lasting 
advantages which otherwise might have accrued from the victory of Tip- 
pecanoe. He consequently again renewed his intrigues with greater ac- 
tivity than ever, and he caused the commencement of fresh depredations 
along the widely-extended borders of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, at points 
so distant from each other as to distract public attention and create an 
almost universal panic. The declaration of war with Great Britain, it 
will be remembered, took place on the 18th of June, 1812, and the west- 
ern people suffered more than has been commonly supposed, from their 
almost defenceless exposure to the incursions and barbarities of the infu- 
riated savages. Not that they were less energetic in the popular enthu- 
siasm of the measure, for they are known never to have chosen the inane 
and timid counsel of preferring security to honor, while they emulated, by 
their deeds of noble daring, in this, the second great struggle for liberty, 
the stem republican virtues which their patriotic ancestors evinced in the 
first. 

Here, again, are we called upon to notice the distinguishing preference 
which the whole people of the west bestowed upon General Harrison, in 
their nomination of him to the head of their armies at a time when the 
highest order of talents was, of necessity, put in requisition. Governor 
Harrison was repeatedly honored by consultations from the several parts 
of the country, and in consequence of a communication received from 
Governor Scott, of Kentucky, he repaired to Frankfort ; and while here 
he suggested plans of operation which, had they been given some days 
earlier, would have proved of the most important service in the preserva- 
tion of Detroit, but which, unhappily for the country, had not been antici- 
pated by the government itself. 

The surrender of this city, and with it the army of Hull, had exposed 
the vast region including western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and what are now 



186 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, to the enemy's ravages. About 
this time Governor Harrison received a communication from the war de- 
partment, which informed him that he had been appointed a brigadier-gen- 
eral in the army of the United States. It is a matter of regret that this 
appointment had not been conferred upon him at an earlier period, as in 
that case it is more than probable that the melancholy tragedy of the mas- 
sacre at the river Raisin would never have occurred. His situation again, 
at this time, was one of peculiar difficulty, from the paucity in the provis- 
ions and clothing of the troops ; the demand for these in the Atlantic 
cities, from the constant failure of the contractors, causing a deficiency 
which often becami alarming. Having received advices informing him 
that Fort Wayne had become infested by a body of Indians, and in dan- 
ger of being reduced. Harrison's first movement was to hasten to its 
relief. Accordingly, on the 5th of September, he marched for that place, 
but finding his troops were deficient in a supply of flints — a trifling but 
indispensable article — he was subjected to some delay ; but he reached 
his destination on the 9th of the same month. On the 17th he received a 
despatch from the president, investing him with the command of the 
northwestern army, which then nominally amounted to about ten thousand 
men, undisciplined, unprovided, and scattered over a wide region ; added 
to which he had authority to employ officers, and to draw from the public 
stores ; which reposed in him a trust more extensive and important than 
was ever deputed to any officer of the United States, if we except, per- 
haps, Washington and Greene. The immediate objects of the campaign 
now committed to the sole direction of General Harrison, were the recapture 
of Detroit by a coup de main, the reduction of Maiden, in Upper Canada, and 
the protection of the northwestern border. The point from which the 
principal movement upon the enemy was to be made, was the rapids of 
the Miami. The military arrangements extended from Upper Sandusky, 
on the right, to Fort Defiance, on the left. As it comes not within our 
province to enumerate the details of this campaign, we shall strictly con- 
fine our remarks to the movements of General Harrison, and even our 
notice of these Avill necessarily be very brief. 

Harrison had scarcely reached his intended theatre of action, when he 
received intelligence of General Winchester's contemplated movement 
against the enemy ; he immediately ordered a corps of three hundred men 
to the rapids, and on the following morning he proceeded himself to Lower 
Sandusky, and there found that General Perkins had also prepared to send 
a battalion and artillery ; but owing to the delay in their transmission, from 
the bad condition of the roads, they failed to reach the river Raisin be- 
fore the fatal disaster had occurred. Harrison now determined to proceed 
to the rapids, to learn personally the situation of General Winchester. In 
the meantime, however, a reinforcement had been despatched by Colonel 
Lewis, for the purpose of occupying the village of Frenchtown, and while 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISOlSr. 187 

on his way thither, General Harrison received the intelligence of the vic- 
tory which had been gained on the preceding day. 

He was finally enabled, on the 20th of January, to reach the camp. 
Hearing of Proctor's attack, he hastened with all his disposable force to 
the river Raisin, but was soon met by fugitives from the field of battle, 
from whom he ascertained the total defeat of Winchester's forces. The 
temerity of Winchester was the sole cause of his fall ; while all that could 
have been done to prevent the disaster, was done by General Harrison ; 
for had he received timely notice of the exigency of the case, his rein- 
forcement would doubtless have terminated the action in our favor. Oa 
the 1st of February, the army having been reorganized and reinforced, 
their numbers now amounted to eighteen hundred men. Entertaining the 
confident expectation of ultimately accomplishing his purpose. General 
Harrison continued to make preparations with unremitting assiduity. He 
encamped for the winter at a fortified place which, in honor of the gov- 
ernor of Ohio, was called " Catnp Meigs." About this period Harrison, 
who was appointed major-general in the service of the United States, re- 
turned to Cincinnati, with the view of procuring and forwarding supplies 
of provisions and military stores. While engaged in the arduous duties 
of this campaign, he organized several minor expeditions against the In- 
dians, in order to keep them in proper check. 

Early in the spring of 1813, intelligence having been received of a 
contemplated expedition against Fort Meigs, by the British, accompanied 
by Tecumseh and six hundred warriors. General Harrison hastened back 
to the frontier, and immediately summoned three thousand troops frora 
Kentucky, who reached Defiance on the 3d of May, while he himself 
arrived just in time to receive the enemy's attack. For five days their 
batteries kept up a constant shower of halls against our defences, although, 
through the skilful disposition of the commander, with comparatively little 
effect. Harrison, with his augmented forces, now made a vigorous and 
simultaneous attack on the enemy's batteries, and, having reduced them, 
preparations followed for a sortie from the fort, which resulted in trium- 
phant success. The impetuosity of the charge proved irresistible, and, 
after a severe struggle, our troops drove the enemy from their batteries, 
notwithstanding they, including their Indian allies, nearly doubled their 
numbers. This action was one of the most desperate and sanguinary ever 
fought during the whole border war ; it lasted, however, but forty-five 
minutes, during which time no less than one hundred and eighty were 
either killed or wounded of the American troops. Thus terminated the 
glorious defence of Fort Meigs. Harrison soon after left General Green 
Clay in command of the post. 

The unceasing efforts of the British, and the restless spirit of Tecumseh, 
allowed our troops but little time to recover from their severe fatigues ; 
for in less than two months (being early in July, 1813) the Indians as- 



188 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

sembled a formidable body of no less than five thousand warriors, and 
again invested the fortress. In consequence of this, Harrison had a forti- 
fication erected at Seneca town, about nine miles up the river, as a reserve 
for the better protection of his principal depot at Upper Sandusky. The 
enemy remained but two days before the fortification, changing their route 
for Lower Sandusky. On the evening of the 29th, the general received 
information that the siege of Fort Meigs had been raised ; it was of the 
Utmost importance, therefore, that all the troops within reach should be 
immediately concentrated for the protection of the principal point of de- 
fence at Upper Sandusky. The enemy demanded the surrender of the 
fort, which being refused by its commander, Colonel Crogan, a cannonade 
was opened, after which they attempted an assault, but being met by a 
galling fire of musketry, they were repulsed with great loss, and obliged 
to make a precipitate retreat. On the 18th of August, Commodore Perry, 
with his fleet, arrived off Sandusky bay, and shortly afterward his cele- 
brated action was fought, which so gloriously resulted in the capture of 
the enemy's whole fleet, Harrison, meanwhile, collected together his 
troops, and while Colonel Johnson marched for his station by way of the 
river Raisin, the general embarked on the 20th of September, with two 
brigades, for Bass island. 

On the 27th the army again embarked, and made a descent upon the 
Canada shore. Surrounded by his gallant troops. General Harrison now 
proudly stood upon the ruined breastworks of Maiden, from which de- 
struction had been poured upon the frontier, and whence the firebrand and 
tomahawk of the Indian had gone forth in the work of desolation. In his 
despatches to the war department, Harrison thus writes : " I will pursue 
the enemy to-morrow, although there is little probability of overtaking 
him, as he has upward of one thousand horses, and we have not one in 
the army." He proceeded, accordingly, on the following day, to Sand- 
wich, but Proctor had fled. " At a convention of the general officers, 
Harrison informed them," says M'Affee, "that there were but two ways 
of accomplishing their object ; one of which was to follow him up the 
strait by land ; the other, to embark and sail down Lake Erie to Long 
Point, then march hastily across by land twelvemiles to the road, and in- 
tercept him." The former plan was unanimously preferred, and conse- 
quently adopted. The army rapidly advanced in pursuit of the enemy up 
the Thames to the Moravian towns. On the 5th of October the enemy 
were overtaken ; Proctor's position was flanked on the left by the Thames, 
and his right by a swamp, which was occupied by a horde of Indians un- 
der the celebrated Tecumseh. General Harrison, on this occasion, 
adopted a movement which, while it insured an easy victory, evinced a 
high degree of military skill and promptitude of character — one division 
of his infantry extending in a double line from the river to the swamp, 
opposite to Proctor's troops, and the other placed at right angles to the first, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 189 

facing the swamp, with the view of preventing the Indians from turning 
his left flank, and getting into the rear. Observing the enemy's troops to 
be in open order, that is, with intervals of three or four between the 
files, which can never successfully resist a charge of cavalry, Harrison 
instantly ordered Colonel Johnson's mounted regiment, which occupied 
the front, to dash through the enemy's line in column. This command 
was brilliantly executed, and the attempt was triumphant, for the British 
were at once thrown into confusion, and our men wisely taking advantage 
of their disorder by attacking their broken line in the rear, they were 
compelled to surrender their arms, and thus a splendid and almost blood- 
less victory was virtuously achieved, rather by the consummate skill of 
the general than by the energies of his troops. 

The contest with the Indian allies, however, was more severe, as they 
advanced and poured in a continuous and galling fire, not only upon the 
cavalry, but also the infantry, which for some time made a great impres- 
sion upon them. Suddenly, however, the voice of command which had 
hitherto inspired their courage was hushed : the haughty chief, Tecurn- 
seh, had fallen. The Indians, as soon as the event became known, has- 
tily decamped, leaving about thirty of their number dead where the chief 
had fallen. Thus ended this decisive engagement, which, together with 
the brilliant victory on the adjacent lake, rescued the whole northwestern 
territory from the depredations of the savage, and all the accumulated hor- 
rors of war ; for the Indians, finding themselves no longer sustained by 
the British, sued for peace, and the result was, an armistice was granted, 
and finally an amicable arrangement with them ratified by the general gov- 
ernment at Washington. The loss on both sides, in the battle of the 
Thames, was about fifty killed and wounded, while the prisoners taken by 
the American troops amounted to six hundred. 

This event, so important to the security and honor of the country, was 
hailed with universal rejoicing and gratulations, while all parties partici- 
pated in the most enthusiastic encomiums upon the magnanimous and he- 
roic conduct of him through whose talents and skill it was accomplished. 
In his message to Congress of the 7th of December, 1813, Mr. Madison 
spoke of the result as " signally honorable to Major-General Harrison, by 
whose military talents it was prepared." And in his speech in Congress, 
Mr. Cheves thus also alludes to the same subject : " The victory of Har- 
rison was such as would have secured to a Roman general, in the best 
days of the republic, the honors of a triumph He put an end to the war 
in the uppermost Canada." — " The blessings," said Governor Snyder, of 
Pennsylvania, in his message to the legislature of that state, " of thou- 
sands of women and children, rescued from the scalping-knife of the ruth- 
less savage of the wilderness, and from the still more savage Proctor, rest 
on Harrison and his gallant army." Numerous other contemporaneous 
records might also be referred to in testimony of the nation's gratitude all 



190 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

of which, however, with the exception of the resolution which was 
adopted by both houses of Congress, it is needless to notice. This is as 
follows : — 

" Resolved, hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress 
be, and they are hereby, presented to Major-General William Henry Har- 
rison, and Isaac Shelby, late governor of Kentucky, and through them to 
the officers and men under their command, for their gallant and good con- 
duct in defeating the combined British and Indian forces under Major-Gen- 
eral Proctor, on the Thames, in Upper Canada, on the fifth day of October, 
1813, capturing the British army, with their baggage, camp equipage, and 
artillery ; and that the president of the United States be requested to 
cause two gold medals to be struck, emblematical of this triumph, and pre- 
sented to General Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late governor of Kentucky." 
The pacification of the northwestern border no longer requiring his 
services, General Harrison despatched his troops to the Niagara frontier, 
with the view of assisting in the operations then going on in that quarter, 
although this formed no part of the plan of the campaign he had to exe- 
cute. On his arrival at Fort Niagara, preparations were being made for 
an expedition against Burlington heights ; these were, however, summa- 
rily arrested by the receipt of an order from the war department, directing 
him to send his troops to Sackett's Harbor, for the defence of that place. 
He accompanied them thither, and, having no right to command in that 
district, proceeded at once to Washington. In every city through which 
he passed he was received with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of 
respect. He remained in Washington but a few days, being desired by 
the president to hasten to Ohio, as his presence there would be of impor- 
tant service, both as regarded the peace of the border, the filling up of 
the regiments intended to be raised in the western states, and other 
measures then in anticipation. 

It will be remembered that the secretary of war at this time was Gen- 
eral Armstrong, who, from some unknown cause, appears to have imbibed 
a strong prejudice against General Harrison, as, from the plan of the cam- 
paign for 1814, submitted by him to the president, it was evident that 
Harrison would no longer be employed in any active service. He also is 
known to have interfered, on more than one occasion during the winter, 
with the internal arrangements of the district which Harrison commanded, 
in contravention to all military etiquette. These circumstances, when 
contrasted with the almost unlimited powers confided to him by the gov- 
ernment during the two previous campaigns, evidently prove them to have 
been intended as a source of mortification to Harrison ; accordingly, he 
rendered his resignation, which, unfortunately for the country, as Mr. Mad- 
ison was absent on a visit to Virginia, was, without consulting the presi- 
dent, accepted at the war department. The president himself, in his re- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 191 

ply to an appeal from Governor Shelby, is said to have expressed his 
great regret that he had not received the intimation earlier, as in that case 
the valuable services of General Harrison would have been preserved 
to the nation in the ensuing campaign. Thus prematurely, vsrere the 
efficient military services of General Harrison brought to a close.* 
Not the less, however, did he continue to receive fresh tokens of con- 
fidence and esteem from Mr. Madison, for in the surnmer of 1814 he 
was appointed, in conjunction with Governor Shelby and General Cass, 
to treat with the Indians in the northwest, at Greenville and the old head- 
quarters of General Wayne ; and during the following year, when the 
treaty of Ghent provided for the pacification of several important tribes, he 
was placed at the head of the commission. 

General Harrison was not permitted by the people to remain long in 
retirement. In 1816 he was elected to represent the congressional dis- 
trict of Ohio in which he resided, in the house of representatives of the 
United States. He was chosen to supply a vacancy, and also for the two 
succeeding years. As in almost every instance where an individual has 
rendered himself prominently an object of popular regard, we find his con- 
duct at some period of his career the subject of malignity and slander. 
General Harrison had scarcely taken his seat at Washington when his 
conduct while in command of the northwestern army, was impugned ; this 
was done by one of the contractors of the army, whose profits, by the in- 
tegrity of Harrison, had sufl'ered considerable diminution. At the in- 
stance of the general, a committee for the full investigation of the charges 
was appointed, of which Colonel Johnson was chairman ; and after a full 
examination of numerous witnesses, they made a unanimous report, in 
which they exculpated General Harrison, in the fullest manner, from all the 
charges brought against him, and paid a high compliment to his patriot- 
ism, disinterestedness, and devotion to the public service. This unjust 
calumny produced serious injury to General Harrison, having caused the 
postponement of the resolution introduced into the senate for awarding to 
him the gold medal and the thanks of Congress ; it was speedily dissipa- 
ted, however, as it ultimately was adopted by the senate, and concurred 
in by the house, with but one dissenting vote. 

While a member of the house. General Harrison assiduously labored to 
accomplish two great political objects ; one was a reform in the militia, 
and the other for the relief of the veteran soldiers who had served in the 
revolutionary armies, as well as those who had been wounded, or otherwise 
disabled, in the last war with Great Britain. With respect to the former 

* But although his brilliant and glorious career in the field was ended, during which, for 
nearly a quarter of a century, he had successfully led his countrymen through every vicis- 
situde and peril to victory, when he could no longer serve them in his military capacity, 
he retired into private life, too high-minded and disinterested to sacrifice his sense of duty 
to pecuniary considerations, and disdaining to receive emoluments for services which he 
could not, consistently with justice to himself, any longer fulfil. 



192 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

measure, he obtained the appointment of a committee, of which he was 
chairman, and subsequently brought in a bill ; but the aversion which 
Congress has always displayed for any legislation upon the subject, caused 
its frequent postponement, till at length, on his retirement from Congress, 
it was finally dropped altogether, for the want of some one to sustain it. 
His other project, however, was crowned with success, and the numerous 
pensioners who received the nation's bounty always regarded General 
Harrison as their benefactor and friend. 

He subsequently took a prominent part in supporting the affirmative of 
the question of acknowledging the independence of the South American 
republics, as proposed by Mr. Clay, then speaker of the house ; in whose 
views of a liberal public policy he generally concurred. In the debate on 
the conduct of General Jackson during the Seminole war, Harrison parti- 
cipated, censuring such acts of General Jackson as he deemed wrong, 
although giving him credit for patriotic motives, and defending him in 
those points which he considered right. 

In 1819 General Harrison was elected to the senate of Ohio; and in 
1824 he was chosen by the people one of the presidential electors of that 
state, on the ticket formed by the friends of Mr. Clay, and gave his vote 
for that gentleman for president. The same year, viz., in 1824, he was 
elected by the legislature a member of the senate of the United States, and 
soon after taking his seat in that body, the following year, he was ap- 
pointed chairman of the military committee, in place of General Jackson, 
who had resigned. He supported the administration of Mr. Adams, and 
in 1828 was appointed by that president, minister plenipotentiary to the 
republic of Colombia. Having proceeded immediately upon his mission, 
he arrived at Bogota in December, 1828. He found the country in a state 
of confusion, the government little better than a despotism, and the people 
as lawless as they were ignorant of their rights. His reception, however, 
was characterized by the most flattering tokens of respect. His plain re- 
publican simplicity ultimately caused him to be suspected of favoring the 
liberal or opposition party, and occasioned a series of petty annoyances, 
rendering his situation exceedingly irksome. But he was speedily re- 
leased from his embarrassment on this account, as one of the very first acts 
of General Jackson's administration, in 1829, was to recall him from the 
mission. Before leaving Colombia, but after he had become a private citi- 
zen, Harrison addressed to General Bolivar his celebrated appeal in favor 
of constitutional liberty, a document which has often been quoted in North 
and South America, and which, for its manly vigor, pure principles of re- 
publicanism, and fervid eloquence, has always been considered highly 
honorable to its author, and an evidence of his superior literary attain- 
ments. 

On his return from Colombia, General Harrison ceased to engage him- 
self in any active pursuits of public life, living in retirement upon his farm 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 193 

at North Bend, on the Ohio river, a few miles below Cincinnati. Never 
having sought personal aggrandizement, nor availed himself of his public 
situation to acquire a fortune, he had not been wealthy ; he was, there- 
fore, induced as a means of contributing to his support, to accept the office 
of clerk to the court of Hamilton county, where he resided, and which sta- 
tion, up to the time of his election to the presidency, he continued to oc- 
cupy. This circumstance alone exhibits a trait in the character of Gen- 
eral Harrison, no less ennobling than it is rare ; since he not only proved 
himself superior to the influence of the specious yet arbitrary forms of 
conventional life, but he also evinced the greatness of his mind in rising 
superior to false pride as to selfish ambition in the service of his country. 

In 1835 General Harrison was brought forward as a candidate for the 
presidency of the United States, as successor to General Jackson, at a 
time when it was generally expected that Mr. Van Buren, then vice-presi- 
dent, would be supported as the democratic candidate for that high office, 
by the friends of Jackson. Harrison was nominated by meetings of the 
people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and other states. Anti-masonic 
and whig conventions, and those who had supported Jackson, but now re- 
fused to vote for Van Buren, joined in sustaining the nomination of Harri- 
son. The opposition were not, however, united in their candidate ; Judge 
Hugh L. White was nominated and supported for the presidency, in Ten- 
nessee, Georgia, and other southern and southwestern states, while Daniel 
Webster received the vote of Massachusetts, and Willie P. Mangum that 
of South Carolina. The result of the election, which took place in 1836, 
showed the great popularity of General Harrison. Without any general 
concert among his friends, he received 73 electoral votes, and in Penn- 
sylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, the majorities for the electoral 
tickets in favor of Mr. Van Buren were comparatively small. 

The national convention of whig delegates which assembled at Harris- 
burg, the seat of government of Pennsylvania, on the 4th of December, 
1839, after a careful and friendly interchange of views with regard to the- 
respective claims and prospects of the three candidates named in the con- 
vention, viz., General Harrison, Mr. Clay, and General Scott, finally 
awarded the nomination to Harrison. The friends of the rival opposition 
candidates, and all desirous to effect a change in the national administra- 
tion, cordially united in the nomination ; and after a contest more anima- 
ted and more general than any which ever before occurred in this coun- 
try, General Harrison was elected to the presidency by an overwh^elming 
vote. He received 234 electoral votes ; Mr. Van Buren 60 only. Har- 
rison attended several of the mass meetings of the people in Ohio 
during the contest, and addressed them in a powerful and eloquent 
manner. 

The elevation of General Harrison to the presidency diffused a general, 
feeling of joy and satisfaction throughout the nation ; for many even^of 
13 



19-1 BTonrAPurcAL sketch ok harhison. 

those who had opposed his election, admitted his patriotism, and hoped 
for a prosperous administration of the government in the hands of one who 
had always proved faithful to the public trust. In February, 1841, the venera- 
ble chief left his peaceful residence at North Bend, Ohio, to proceed to the 
seat of the national government and take the reins of power committed to 
him by the voice of the people. He was received at the difTerent cities, towns, 
and villages, on the route to Washington, by immense concourses of peo- 
ple, anxious to tender him every demonstration of respect, and showing the 
highest degree of enthusiasm. He arrived at Washington on the 9th of 
February, and was received by the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of the 
capital, with distinguished honor and cordial welcome. A few days after- 
ward, he visited Richmond, Virginia, and mingled freely with the citizens ; 
after spending a few days with his relatives residing on James river, 
in the vicinity of Richmond, he returned to Washington, preparatory to 
assuming the responsible duties of his station. 

The inauguration of General Harrison as president of the United States, 
took place on the 4th of March, 1841. The city of Washington was 
thronged with people, many of whom were from the most distant states 
of the Union. A procession was formed, civic and military, from the 
quarters of the president elect to the capitol. General Harrison was 
mounted on a white charger, accompanied by several personal friends, 
and his immediate escort were the officers and soldiers who had fought 
under him. The scene, as described in the National Intelligencer, was 
highly interesting and imposing. The ladies everywhere, from the win- 
dows on each side of the avenue, waved their handkerchiefs in token of 
their kind feelings, and General Harrison returned their smiles and greet- 
ings with repeated bows. The enthusiastic cheers of the citizens who 
moved in the procession were, with equal enthusiasm, responded to by 
thousands of citizen spectators who lined Pennsylvania avenue, or ap- 
peared at the side windows, in the numerous balconies, on the tops of 
houses, or on other elevated stands. 

At the capitol, the senate having been convened, by the late president, 
in extra session, assembled at the appointed hour, and was organized by 
the appointment of Mr. King, of Alabama, president pro tern. ; after Avhich 
Mr. Tyler, the vice-president elect, took the oath of office, and, on taking 
his seat as presiding officer, delivered a brief and appropriate address to 
the senate. The judges of the supreme court, the diplomatic corps, and 
several distinguished officers of the army and navy were present in the 
senate-chamber. 

At twenty minutes past twelve o'clock. General Harrison entered and 
took the seat prepared for him in front of the secretary's table. He 
looked cheerful, but composed ; his bodily health was manifestly good ; 
there was an alertness in his movement which was quite astonishing 
.considering his advanced age, the multiplied hardships through which 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 195 

his frame had passed, and the fatigues he had lately undergone. After 
he had retained his seat for a few minutes, preparations were made for 
forming the line of procession to the platform prepared for the ceremony 
of the inauguration, erected over the front steps of the portico of the east 
front of the capitol. 

On the platform, seats had been provided for the president elect and 
the chief-justice, who were jJlaced immediately in front. On their right, 
seats were assigned to the diplomatic corps. Behind sat members of both 
houses of Congress, officers of the army and navy, and many distin- 
guished characters from different parts of the Union ; intermingled with a 
great company of ladies who occupied, not only the steps in the rear of 
the platform, but both the broad abutments of stone which support the 
steps on either side. 

But the sight which attracted and arrested and filled the eye of the 
observer, was the people. They stood for hours in a solid, dense mass, 
variously estimated to contain, in the space before the capitol, from thirty 
to sixty thousand. 

While patiently waiting for the arrival of the president, the mass of 
heads resembled some placid lake ; but the instant he was seen advancing 
from the capitol, it suddenly resembled that same lake when a blast from 
the mountain has descended upon it, thrown it into tumultuous agitation, 
and " lifted up its hands on high." A deafening shout went up from the 
hearts and voices of the people. It sung v/elcome to the man whom the 
people delighted to honor, and must have met, with overwhelming power, 
the throbbings of his own bosom.* 

When the uproar had subsided, it was succeeded by the deep stillness 
of expectation, and the new president forthwith proceeded to read, in ac- 
cents loud and clear, his address to the nation. In its delivery, the voice 
of General Harrison never flagged, but to the end retained its full and 
commanding tone. As he touched on successive topics lying near the 
hearts of the people, their sympathy with his sentiments was manifested 
by shouts which broke forth involuntarily from time to time ; and when 
the reading of the address was concluded, they were renewed and pro- 
longed without restraint. 

Previous to delivering the closing sentences of the address, the oath of 
office, tendered by Chief- Justice Taney, was taken by the president, in 
tones loud, distinct, and solemn, manifesting a due and a deep impression 
of the importance of the act ; after which the president pronounced the 
remaining passage of his address. 

The pealing cannon then announced to the country that it had a new 

chief magistrate. The procession was again formed ; and setting out from 

the capitol, proceeded along Pennsylvania avenue to the mansion of the 

president, cheered throughout the whole route as General Harrison passed, 

* National Intelligencer. 



196 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

bv the immense crowds on foot, which lined the avenue and filled the 
doors and windows of the buildings. 

Nearly the whole throng of visiters accompanied the president to his 
new abode, and as many as possible entered and paid their personal 
respects to him. The close of the day was marked by the repetition of 
salutes from the artillery, the whole city being yet alive with a population 
of strangers and residents, whom the mildness of the season invited into 
the open air. 

In the evening, the several ball-rooms and places of amusement were 
crowded with gentlemen and ladies attracted to Washington city by the 
novelty and interest of the occasion. In the course of the evening the 
president paid a short visit to each of the assemblies held in honor of the 
inauguration, and was received with the warmest demonstrations of attach- 
ment and respect. 

The president immediately nominated to the senate the members of his 
cabinet, as follows : Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, secretary of state ; 
Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, secretary of the treasury ; John Bell, of Ten- 
nessee, secretary of war ; George E. Badger, of North Carolina, secretary 
of the navy ; Francis Granger, of New York, postmaster-general ; John J. 
Crittenden, of Kentucky, attorney-general. These nominations were all 
confirmed by the senate. That body also confirmed a number of other 
nominations by the president, chiefly to fill vacancies ; and, after electing 
a sergeant-at-arms, and dismissing Messrs. Blair and Rives as printers to 
the senate, also having elected Samuel L. Southard, of New Jersey, presi- 
dent j^ro tern., the senate adjourned on the 15th of March. 

The members of the diplomatic body, or foreign ministers in Washing- 
ton accredited to the government of the United States, waited on the presi- 
dent on the 9th of March, and through Mr. Fox, the British minister, 
being presented by 'the secretary of state, made to him an appropriate 
address, congratulating him upon his accession to the presidency. To 
this address the president of the United States made the following reply : — 

" Sir : I receive with great pleasure the congratulations you have been 
pleased to offer me, in the name of the distinguished diplomatic body now 
present, the representatives of the most powerful and polished nations 
with whom the republic which has honored me with the office of its chief 
magistrate has the most intimate relations — relations which I trust no sin- 
ister event will, for ages, interrupt. 

" The sentiments contained in my late address to my fellow-citizens, 
and to which you have been pleased to advert, are those which will con- 
tinue to govern my conduct through the whole course of my administra- 
tion. Lately one of the people, the undisputed sovereigns of the country, 
and coming immediately from among them, I am enabled, with confidence, 
to say, that in thus acting I shall be sustained by their undivided appro- 
bation. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 197 

" I beg leave to add, sir, that, both from duty and inclination, I shall 
omit nothing in my power to contribute to your own personal happiness 
and that of the friends whom, on this occasion, you represent, as long as 
you may continue among us." 

The other ministers, with their secretaries, and the persons attached to 
their respective missions, were then successively presented to the presi- 
dent. The Russian minister was prevented from being present, by indis- 
position ; but on the 12th of March he was presented to the president, by 
the secretary of state, and to his address on the occasion, the president 
replied as follows : — 

" I receive, sir, the congratulations which you offer me in your capacity 
of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the emperor of all 
the Russias, upon my election to the presidency of the United States, with 
great pleasure. 

" From the epoch which introduced the United States to the world as 
an independent nation, the most amicable relations have existed between 
them and the powerful and distinguished monarchs who have successively 
swayed the sceptre of Russia. The presidents, my predecessors, acting 
in behalf and under the authority of the people, their constituents, have 
never failed to use every proper occasion to confirm and strengthen the 
friendship so auspiciously commenced, and which a mutuality of interests, 
render so desirable to be continued. I assure you, sir, that none of them 
felt the obligations of this duty more powerfully than I do ; and you can 
not in language too strong communicate to your august monarch my senti- 
ments on this subject. And permit me to add, that no more acceptable 
medium of communicating them could have been offered than that of a per- 
sonage who has rendered himself so acceptable, as well to the people as 
to the government of the United States." 

On the 17th of March, President Harrison issued his proclamation, cal- 
ling an extra session of Congress, principally on account of the condition 
of the revenue and finances of the country, to be held on the last Monday, 
being the 31st day, of May ensuing. 

The extra sessions of Congress called by the predecessors of General 
Harrison, since the organization of the government, were as follows : John 
Adams convened Congress on the 16th of May, 1797 ; Thomas Jefferson 
called the eighth Congress on the 17th of October, 1803, to provide for 
carrying the Louisiana treaty into effect, but that day was only about three 
weeks earlier than had been fixed by the preceding Congress ; James 
Madison convened Congress on the 23d of May, 1809 ; also on the 25th 
of May, 1813 ; Martin Van Buren convened Congress on the 4th of Sep- 
tember, 1837. 

Mrs. Harrison did not accompany her husband to Washington, but re- 
mained at the homestead at North Bend, superintending the care of her 
numerous family, and intending to join the president at the seat of gov- 



198 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Of HARRISON. 

ernment in the course of the spring ; but the family and the nation were 
destined soon to receive a mournful lesson upon the mutability of human 
affairs. 

From the moment General Harrison was elected president, his heart 
was filled with gratitude to the people, to whom indeed he had always 
been devoted. Anxious to fulfil the wishes of his political friends, he re- 
ceived with kindness and attention the numerous applicants for office 
who thronged the seat of government ; and although he would doubtless 
have been better pleased to have deferred many appointments for a time, 
yet a considerable number of removals were made by him, and appoint- 
ments made, in compliance with the views of the cabinet, during the 
month of March. In the generosity of his heart, he invariably opened the 
doors of the president's mansion wide to the reception of his friends, and 
that house was the abode of hospitality and kindness. He indulged his 
friends to his own destruction. From sunrise till midnight, he indulgently 
devoted himself to his fellow-citizens who visited him, with the exception 
of an hour each day spent in cabinet council. It was his habit, after 
rising, first to peruse his bible, and then to take a walk before breakfast. 
And afterward, the whole day would be spent in receiving company and 
transacting business. 

On Saturday, March 27, President Harrison, after several days previous 
indisposition from the effects of a cold, was seized with a chill and other 
symptoms of fever. These were followed by pneumonia, or bilious pleu- 
risy, which ultimately baffled all medical skill, and terminated his virtu- 
ous, useful, and illustrious life, on Sunday morning, the 4th of April, after 
an illness of eight days, being a little over 68 years of age. 

The last time the president spoke was at nine o'clock on Saturday 
night, a little more than three hours before he expired. While Doctor 
Worthington and one or two other attendants were standing over him, 
having just administered something to his comfort, he cleared his throat, 
as if desiring to speak audibly, and, as though he fancied himself addres- 
sing his successor, or some official associate in the government, said : 
" Sir, I WISH you to understand the principles of the govern- 
ment. I WISH THEM CARRIED OUT. I ASK NOTHING MORE." 

He expired a little after midnight, surrounded by those members of his 
family who were in the city, the members of his cabinet and many per- 
sonal friends, among whom were Colonels Chambers and Todd, who 
were the aids of General Harrison at the battle of the Thames, in 1813. 
The connexions of the president who were present in the executive man- 
sion at the time of his decease, were the following : Mrs. William Har- 
rison (son's widow) ; Mrs. Taylor, of Richmond (niece) ; Mr. D. O. 
Coupeland (nephew) ; Henry Harrison, of Virginia (grand nephew), and 
Findlay Harrison, of Ohio (grandson). 

The general feeling throughout the country was thus eloquently por- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ot HARRISON. 199 

trayed in the National Intelligencer of April 9, 1841, which contained an 
account of the funeral : — 

" Never, since the time of Washington, has any one man so concentra- 
ted upon himself the love and confidence of the American people ; and 
never, since the melancholy day which shrouded a nation in mourning for 
his sudden death, has any event produced so general and so profound a 
sensation of surprise and sorrow. 

" So brief had been the late president's illness, that now, as in the case 
of Washington, there had scarce been time for us to begin to fear, when 
the stunning blow of the reality fell upon us like the stroke of thunder from 
a cloudless sky. Men looked aghast, and staggered, as if amazed by 
something they could scarce believe. But it was true. He who, with 
beaming countenance, passed along our streets in the joy of his heart — 
he, the welcome, the long-expected, the desired, on whom all eyes were 
fastened, to whom all hearts went out ; who had within him more stirring 
subjects of exhilarating consciousness than have met in any single bosom 
since Washington was crowned with wreaths as he came back from York- 
town, was, on Wednesday last, within one month, ' one little month,' 
borne along that same crowded avenue — crowded, not as before, with a 
jubilant people gathered from every quarter of the country, but with sin- 
cerely sorrowing multitudes following his bier. When the words, ' the 
president is dead,' met the ear, the man of business dropped his pen, the 
artisan dropped his tools — children looked into the faces of their parents, 
and wives into the countenances of their husbands — and the wail of sor- 
row arose as if each had lost a parent, or some near and dear friend. Could 
General Harrison now look down on the land he loved, he might, indeed, 
' read his history in a nation's eyes ;' and those whose bosoms glow and 
struggle with high purposes and strong desires for their country's good, 
may learn in what they now behold, wherever they turn their eyes, how glori- 
ous a reward awaits the memory of those who faithfully serve their country !" 

On Wednesday, the 7th of April, the funeral of President Harrison took 
place at Washington, and was attended by an immense concourse of citi- 
zens, who thronged to the city from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Alexandria, 
and other places, anxious to join in the honors and solemnities paid to the 
memory of the illustrious deceased. The civic and military procession 
was large and imposing, occupying two miles in length. The funeral ser- 
vice of the episcopal church was recited by the Rev. Mr. Hawley. The body 
was interred in the congressional burying ground, but afterward removed 
to North Bend, Ohio, at the request of the family of General Harrison. 

All party distinctions were merged in the feeling of respect due to the 
memory of the honored dead ; and throughout the Union, funeral honors 
and other testimonials of public feeling, similar to those which took place 
on the death of General Washington, were awarded to the memory of Har- 
rison. At every city, town, and village, in the Union, as the unwelcome 



200 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HARRISON. 

tidings of the death of the president arrived, it was received with every 
demonstration of monrning and regret, and followed immediately by such 
marks of respect as the several communities had it in their power to offer. 
Such legislative bodies as happened to be in session, were among the 
foremost to demonstrate their sympathy with the general impulse. That 
exhibited by the legislature of Maryland, in leaving the seat of the state 
government, and attending the funeral as an organized body, was among 
the most touching evidences of the kind. The Pennsylvania legislature 
deputed a number of members from each branch of that body, to proceed 
from Harrisburg to Washington, to attend the funeral. The legislature of 
New York adopted such measures as the occasion enabled them to do, to 
testify their feelings. The respective courts, wherever they were in ses- 
sion, officially united in the general expression, as did also the municipal- 
ities of all the principal cities and towns in the Union. The occasion was 
also appropriately noticed by the clergy of the different denominations. 

General Harrison left one son and three daughters, all living at or near 
North Bend, Ohio. Four sons and a daughter died before their father. 
All of the sons left children. 

In person. General Harrison was tall and slender. Although he never, 
had the appearance of possessing a robust constitution, yet such had been 
the effects of habitual activity and temperance, that few men at his age 
enjoyed so much bodily vigor. He had a fine dark eye, remarkable for 
its keenness, fire, and intelligence, and his face was strongly expressive 
of the vivacity of his mind, and the benevolence of his character. 

The most remarkable traits of General Harrison's character, and those 
by which he was distinguished throughout his whole career, were his 
disinterestedness, his regard for the rights and comforts of others, his gen- 
erous disposition, his mild and forbearing temper, and his plain, easy, and 
unostentatious manner. 

He had a most intimate knowledge of the history, and foreign and do- 
mestic polity of the United States ; and from the moderation of his politi- 
cal views and feelings as a party man, although firm, frank, and consist- 
ent, he was well calculated for the high station to which he was elected, 
and which it is believed he would have filled with ability, and to the sat- 
isfaction of the public, during his presidential term, had his life been 
spared. His talents, although, perhaps, not of the highest order, were 
very respectable, and, united with an accurate knowledge of mankind, en- 
abled him to acquit himself well in the various public stations to which he 
was called. He was a bold and eloquent orator ; and he has left on rec- 
ord numerous evidences of his literary acquirements, among which, be- 
sides his correspondence and public papers, we may mention his discourse 
before the Historical Society of Ohio (on the aborigines of the valley of 
the Ohio), published at Cincinnati, in 1839, which can not fail to please 
and instruct either the scholar, the lover of history, or the antiquary. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



JOHN TYLER 



The ancestors of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States, 
and the sixth chief magistrate of the nation whose birthplace was Vir- 
ginia, were among the early English settlers of the Old Dominion. This 
family of Tyler, it is understood, traced their lineage back to Walter, or 
Wat Tyler, who, in the fourteenth century, headed an insurrection in Eng- 
land, and, while demanding of the king (Richard II.) a recognition of the 
rights of the people, lost his life in their cause. 

The father of the subject of this sketch, bearing the same name, was 
the second son of John Tyler, who was marshal of the colony, under the 
royal government, up to the period of his death, which occurred after the 
remonstrances against the stamp act, and whose patrimonial estate covered 
a large tract of country in and about Williamsburg. The son early en- 
tered with warmth and spirit into the discussion of those grievances which 
afterward kindled the flame of the revolution ; and so earnestly were his 
sympathies enlisted in the cause of colonial rights, and so unhesitatingly 
were his opinions expressed, that his father, the marshal, often told him 
that he would some day be hung for a rebel. A rebel he did indeed prove, 
but his consequent exaltation was destined to be, not the scaffold, but the 
chair of state. Removing from James City, some time in 1775, to Charles 
City, he was, not long after, elected from that county a member of the 
house of delegates of Virginia, and in that capacity distinguished himself 
by the zeal and fearlessness with which he advocated the boldest measures 
of the revolution, and the devotion with which he lent all the energies of 
a powerful mind to its success.* 

The intimate friend of Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Edmund Ran- 
dolph, he was scarcely less beloved by the entire people of Virginia. 

* We are indebted to a life of President Tyler, written by one of his friends, and pub- 
lished by Harper and Brothers, in 1S44, for a part of this sketch. 



202 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 

Throughout the revolution, Mr. Tyler devoted himself unceasingly and 
untiringly to its success. A bold, free, and elegant speaker, his voice 
was never silent when it could avail aught for the great cause in which 
he was enlisted ; and possessing an ample fortune at the commencement 
of the revolution — partly the inheritance of his father, but more the result 
of his own industry as a distinguished lawyer of the colony — the liberality 
with which he lavished his wealth upon its progress, and the utter disre- 
gard of selfish considerations with which he sacrificed his whole time 
during its continuance, to aid in bringing it to a successful termination, 
left him almost utterly impoverished at its close. None appreciated bet- 
ter than the people of Virginia the great services he had rendered, and the 
patriotic sacrifices he had made to the cause of independence ; and he 
was elevated by them successively to the offices of speaker of the house 
of delegates, governor of the state, and judge in one of her highest courts- 
At the breaking out of the last war, he was appointed, by Mr. Madison, a 
judge of the federal court of admiralty. In February, 1813, he died, full 
of years and honors. The legislature passed resolutions expressive of 
their sense of the bereavement, and went into mourning for the remainder 
of the session. 

Judge Tyler left three sons, Wat, John, and William, the second of 
whom, the subject of this memoir, was born in Charles City county, Vir- 
ginia, on the 29th of March, 1790. Passing over the period of his early 
youth, when he was noted for his love of books, and particularly of his- 
torical works, we find young Tyler, at the age of twelve years, entering 
William and Mary college. Here he soon attracted the notice of Bishop 
Madison, the venerable president of that institution ; and during his whole 
collegiate course, Mr. Tyler was, in an especial degree, a favorite of that 
distinguished man, as well as of his fellows-students. He passed through 
the courses at the age of seventeen, and on that occasion delivered an ad- 
dress on the subject of " female education," which was pronounced by the 
faculty to have been the best commencement oration delivered there within 
their recollection. 

After leaving college, Mr. Tyler devoted himself to the studyof law, already 
commenced during his collegiate studies, and passed the next two years in 
reading, partly with his father, and partly with Edmund Randolph, for- 
merly governor of Virginia, and one of the most eminent lawyers in the 
state. At nineteen years of age, he appeared at the bar of his native 
county as a practising lawyer, a certificate having been given him without 
inquiry as to his age ; and such was his success, that ere three months 
had elapsed there was scarcely a disputable case on the docket of the 
court in which he was not retained upon the one side or the other. The 
year after his appearance at the bar, he was ofl'ered a nomination as mem- 
ber of the legislature from his own county, but he declined the profl^ered 
honor, until the fidlowing year, when, having reached the age of twenty- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 203 

one but a few days before the election took place, he was chosen nearly 
unanimously, a member of the house of delegates. 

He took his seat in that branch of the Virginia legislature in December, 
181 1. The breaking out of the war soon after, afforded fine scope for his 
oratorical abilities. Attached to the democratic party, and an advocate 
of the course of policy which had been pursued by Jefferson and Madi- 
son, in the limited sphere he then occupied, his voice was ever heard 
urging, so far as lay in the power of the government, the most energetic 
measures in carrying on the war. He spoke often, with the view of im- 
proving his powers of oratory ; and the youthful debater had the gratifica- 
tion to find, that even in the forum of Virginia, the country of eloquence, 
his speeches commanded universal attention. 

The senators in Congress from Virginia at that time, were Messrs. 
Giles and Brent, who had been instructed by the legislature to vote 
against the renewal of the charter of the bank of the United States. This 
instruction was disobeyed by Mr. Brent, in his vote on the question, in 
February, 1811, and Mr. Tyler introduced a resolution of censure into the 
house of delegates, animadverting severely upon the course of the senator, 
and laying it down as a principle to be established thereafter, that any 
person accepting the office of senator of the United States from the state 
of Virginia, by such acceptance tacitly bound himself to obey, during the 
period he should serve, the instructions he might receive from its legis- 
lature. Twenty-five years afterward he had not forgotten the ideas of 
senatorial duty he then inculcated, when, himself a senator, he was called 
upon to record a vote not less repugnant to his judgment than to his con- 
science. Mr. Tyler was elected to the legislature for five successive 
years ; and, as an instance of his popularity in his native county, it may 
be mentioned, that on one occasion he received all the votes polled except 
five. Some years later, when a candidate for Congress, of the two hun- 
dred votes given in the same county, he received all but one, over a dis- 
tinguished competitor. 

At the time the British forces were in the Chesapeake bay, and threat- 
ened an attack on Norfolk and Richmond, Mr. Tyler evinced a disposition 
to serve his country in the field as well as in the halls of legislation, by 
raising a volunteer company, and devoting himself assiduously to effecting 
an efficient organization of the militia in his neighborhood. Hence the 
title of " Captain Tyler," which was applied to him, in ridicule, when 
president of the United States. In the sequel, the troops under his com- 
mand were not brought into action, and his military career was, conse- 
quently, short and bloodless. 

During the session of 1815-'16, while he was still a member of the 
house of delegates, Mr. Tyler was elected one of the executive council, 
in which capacity he acted until November, 1816, when, by the death 
of 'he Hon. John Clopton, a vacancy occurred in the representation in 



204 CIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 

Congress, from the Richmond district. Two candidates were presented, 
Mr. Andrew Stevenson, afterward distinguished in the national coun- 
cils, and then speaker of the house of delegates, and Mr. Tyler. The 
contest was severe, and enlisted to a great extent the public feeling, 
though it produced no cessation of the friendly relations which had 
always existed between the two opposing candidates. Mr. Stevenson 
was a most popular man in Richmond, his place of residence, but 
Mr. Tyler's popularity was not less great in his own and the neighbor- 
ing counties ; and, after a closely contested canvass, Mr. Tyler was 
elected, by a majority of only about thirty votes. It was a mere trial of 
personal popularity, as they were both of the same political principle ; 
and when Mr. Tyler retired from Congress, in 1821, he warmly advocated 
the election of Mr. Stevenson as his successor. 

Mr. Tyler took his seat in the house of representatives in December, 
1816, having reached the twenty-sixth year of his age the previous month 
of March. As a new member, custom, not less than the modesty which 
is ever the accompaniment of merit, prohibited him from taking a very 
active part in the proceedings of the house. Yet even during this period 
he was not idle, but occasionally participated in the discussions which 
occupied the short portion of time for which he had been elected. 

Having witnessed the inauguration of President Monroe, Mr. Tyler 
returned home to his constituents, in March, 1817, and the following month 
he received a testimonial of their approbation, in his re-election to Con- 
gress by an overwhelming majority over his former rival, Mr. Stevenson. 

In the fifteenth Congress many subjects of magnitude were brought for- 
ward and discussed. Among them were the Seminole war and the South 
American question. Mr. Clay, the speaker, introduced a proposition to 
acknowledge the independence of the provinces of Rio de la Plata, against 
which Mr. Tyler voted. He supported the resolutions of censure on the 
conduct of General Jackson in the Seminole war, taking the same view as 
some of his colleagues and Mr. Clay on that subject. The question of 
internal improvements by the general government was agitated at this 
session, as it had been by the previous Congress ; on both occasions Mr. 
Tyler voted against all the propositions offered in the house which coun- 
tenanced the doctrine of the possession of the power by the general gov- 
ernment, under the constitution, to make internal improvements. Thus 
he avowed on, all occasions, the state-rights or strict construction doctrines 
of the dominant party in Virginia, on constitutional points. The conduct 
of the directors of the bank of the United States, which institution was 
chartered in 1816, was the subject of investigation at this session of Con- 
gress, and Mr. Tyler was placed on the committee appointed to inspect 
the concerns of the bank. When the report of the committee was made, 
Mr. Tyler supported a resolution offered by Mr. Trimble of Kentucky, re- 
quiring that a scire facias should be issued immediately against the bank. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 205 

In his speech on this occasion, Mr. Tyler avowed his belief that the cre- 
ation of this corporation was unconstitutional. 

In 1819, Mr. Tyler was re-elected to Congress, there being no oppo- 
sing candidate. He took an active part in the debates on the Missouri 
question, and on the proposed revision of the tariff. He opposed any re- 
strictions upon Missouri, on the admission of that state into the Union ; 
and also made an elaborate argument against the policy of a protective 
tariff. Ere the close of this Congress, increasing ill health compelled 
Mr. Tyler to resign his seat in that body. Placed on the committee of 
ways and means, at a time when the financial affairs of the country were 
in a most disordered condition, his whole time and energies were devoted 
to the fulfilment of his duties, and constant labor and confinement made 
fearful inroads upon a constitution not strong by nature. He left the 
house of representatives, carrying with him the reputation of an eloquent 
speaker, a constant advocate of popular rights, and a democrat of the 
school of Jefferson. He retired to his farm in Charles City county, 
among constituents who approved of his course in Congress, and were 
conscious that naught but physical inability had compelled him to leave 
their service. 

Mr. Tyler now returned to the practice of his profession, but he was 
not suffered long to remain in private life. In the spring of 1823, after 
much urgent solicitation, he consented to become again a candidate for 
the legislature, and was elected with little or no opposition, and, in De- 
cember, took his seat in that body which had been so early familiar to 
him. He soon took the lead in the debates of the house of delegates, and 
during the two years which followed, he having been twice re-elected, 
performed a most conspicuous part in all the proceedings. There was 
little of the legislation of Virginia at that period that did not bear the im- 
press of his hands. He was an ardent advocate of a comprehensive sys- 
tem of public improvement by the state. He regretted to see Virginia 
gradually falling from the high estate she had occupied in the Union ; and 
he put forth his utmost efforts to arrest the downward progress of the com- 
monwealth, and to arouse her dormant energies to a display of her vast 
resources. He was not Avholly unsuccessful. The construction of roads 
and canals was liberally encouraged by the legislature, and many of the 
finest works in the state are monuments to the indefatigable exertions of 
John Tyler. 

In December, 1825, Mr. Pleasants's term of office having expired, Mr. 
Tyler was elected governor of Virginia. The office, unsolicited and un- 
expected, was conferred upon him by a large vote, there being, on joint 
ballot of the two houses of the legislature, for Tyler 131, for Floyd 81, 
scattering 2. During his administration of Virginia, Mr. Tyler promoted 
the cause of internal improvement, and devoted himself also to the heal- 
ing of sectional disputes among the people. In July, 1825, he delivered, 



206 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 

at the capitol square, in Richmond, an eloquent eulogy on the death of 
Mr. Jefferson. 

During the next session of the legislature, Mr. Tyler was re-elected 
governor of Virginia by a unanimous vote. He was not, however, per- 
mitted to serve out his term. A senator of the United States was to be 
elected, for six years from the expiration of the term of John Randolph 
on the ensuing 4th of March. Mr. Randolph was the candidate of the 
democratic party for a re-election ; but the strange vagaries and singular 
conduct which had so far marked his career in the senate, had excited 
discontent with very many of that party, and, convinced that he was no 
longer a proper representative of the state of Virginia, they began to look 
about for some man who, professing the same principles as themselves, 
had the firmness and ability to set them forth, and the dignity and strength 
of character to cause them to be respected. The friends of Mr. Adams's 
administration being in the minority in the legislature, united with a few 
of their political opponents in the support of Governor Tyler, in justice to 
whom, it must be said, that he sought not the" nomination. " On the con- 
trary," he remarked, in a letter written before the election, " I have con- 
stantly opposed myself to all solicitations. I desire, most earnestly, to be 
left at peace. There is no motive which could induce me to seek to 
change my present station for a seat in the senate at this time. I can not 
admit that to be one in a body of forty-eight members is to occupy a more 
elevated station than that presented in the chief magistracy of Virginia. 
My private interests, intimately connected with the good of my family, 
are more highly sustained by remaining where I am, than by the talked-of 
change." He also declared, in the same letter, that his political prefer- 
ences on the fundamental principles of the government were the same 
with those espoused by Mr. Randolph. 

Notwithstanding the positive manner in which he disclaimed any de- 
sire to be invested with the senatorial dignity, and the consequent loss of 
votes, Mr. Tyler was elected senator on the first ballot, the vote being for 
Tyler 115, Randolph 110. 

The committee of the legislature appointed to wait on Governor Tyler 
and announce to him his election as senator, used the following, among 
other remarks : "Allow us, sir, to express to you the satisfaction which 
we feel in this new proof of the confidence which Virginia places in your 
known integrity, talents, and patriotism, believing that, as in your past, so 
in your future public life, you will never disappoint her confidence, and 
ever study to promote her true happiness ; and while always faithfully 
representing, will ably and effectually vindicate her interests." 

Mr. Tyler, in his reply, said, " A sense of what is due to the legisla- 
tive will denies to me the privilege of giving longer audience to the sug- 
gestion of my feelings. That voice which called me to the. chief magis- 
tracy, now makes upon me a new demand. I have opposed to it my wishes 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 20? 

and inclinations up to that period when acquiescence becomes a duty, and 
resistance would be censurable by all. I shall, then, in due season, ac- 
cept the appointment with which I have been honored. Be pleased, gen- 
tlemen, to bear to your respective houses my most profound acknowledg- 
ments for this distinguished testimonial of their confidence ; convey to 
them, renewed assurances of my unshaken allegiance to the constitution, 
as received and expounded by our fathers ; say to them, that if I carry 
with me into the national councils less of talent than many of my prede- 
cessors, yet that, in singleness of purpose, and in ardent devotion to the 
principles of civil liberty, I yield to none. If Virginia has changed her 
representative, her principles remain unaltered. Be assured, that the only 
and highest aspiration of my ambition consists in the desire of promoting 
the happiness of my native state, and that it shall be the untiring effort of 
my life to advance and vindicate her interests." 

This election, though regretted by the immediate friends of Mr. Raiv 
dolph and the most zealous of the democratic party in Virginia, who were 
desirous to retain Mr. Randolph in the senate, in consequence of his vio- 
lent hostility to the administration of Mr. Adams, was generally popular 
with the people of Virginia. Even the Richmond Enquirer, devoted as it 
was to Mr. Randolph's interests, in a paragraph regretting his failure, 
after enumerating a long list of causes which, it asserted, led to that re- 
sult, said, " Yet even this combination could not have succeeded in favor 
of any other man in the commonwealth than John Tyler, because he car- 
ried with him personal friends who would have voted for John Randolph 
in preference to any other man than himself;" thus giving the highest pos- 
sible evidence of the esteem in which Mr. Tyler was then held by the 
people of his native state. 

At the presidential election of 1824-'5, Mr. Tyler acted with a large 
majority of the politicians in the state, in giving a preference to William 
H. Crawford for the presidency, and that gentleman received the electoral 
A'ote of the state, and a decided expression of the popular will in his favor. 
"When, however, the election was dfetermined by the house of representa- 
tives, in Congress, in favor of Mr. Adams, the Crawford party in Virginia 
were generally satisfied, as Mr. Adams was their second choice ; and Mr. 
Tyler wrote a letter to Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, approving of his vote for 
Mr. Adams, in preference to General Jackson ; but soon after the election 
of the former to the presidency, Mr. Tyler changed his views, and with 
most of the friends of Mr. Crawford, became an opponent of the adminis- 
tration. 

A few days after his election as senator, Mr. Tyler sent to the legisla- 
ture his resignation of the office of governor. The following is an extract 
from his message on that occasion : " The principles on which I have 
acted, without abandonment, in anyone instance, for the last sixteen years, 
in Congress and in the legislative hall of this state, will be the principles 



208 DIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 

by which I will regulate my future political life. Keeping them con- 
stantly in view, yielding them neither to the force of circumstances nor to 
the suggestions of expediency, and thereby seeking to promote the last- 
ing interests of my beloved country, if I do not acquire the individual con- 
fidence of Virginia, I shall at least have preserved my own consistency, and 
secured my peace of mind through the days of my increasing years, and 
in the hour of my final dissolution." 

Upon the occasion of his retirement from the chief magistracy of the 
state, he was invited to a public dinner, by a large number of the mem- 
bers of the legislature, and of the citizens of Richmond. In answer to 
the following toast — " John Tyler, our friend and guest — a republican too 
firm to be driven from his principles — too upright to be swerved by the 
laws of ambition or power" — Mr. Tyler, among other remarks, said : — 

" I can be at no loss to ascribe this manifestation of public respect to its 
proper source. It flows from the late senatorial election, and the inci- 
dents connected with it. I place upon it, therefore, the highest possible 
value. The recesses of my heart have been attempted to be scanned 
with the view of detecting some lurking wish at variance with my public 
declarations. Had I desired a change, Avhat was there to have prevented 
me from openly seeking it 1 Are not the offices of the republic equally 
open to all its citizens ? When was an exclusive monopoly established ? 
or when was it before that ' Rome contained but one man' ? Virginia, 
thank Heaven, depends upon no one of her citizens, however distinguished 
by talents, for her character or standing. She has been compared to the 
mother of the Gracchii, and I trust that she may still be permitted to be 
proud of her sons. For one who had been taught from early infancy that 
golden rule, that, next to his Creator, his first duty belonged to his coun- 
try, and his last to himself, how could I have stood acquitted, had I 
permitted private considerations to have controlled the obligations of pub- 
lic duty ? By accepting the appointment, while I interfered with the pre- 
tensions of no other citizen, I have acquitted myself of a sacred obliga- 
tion." ^ 

After speaking at large upon the administration, and what he had hoped 
would have been the policy of Mr. x\dams, he said : — 

" Candor requires me here publicly to say, that his first splendid mes- 
sage to Congress long since withered all my hopes. I saw in it an almost 
total disregard of the federative principle — a more latitudinous construction 
of the constitution than has ever before been insisted on ; lying not so 
much in the particular measures recommended — which, though bad enough, 
had some excuse in precedent — as in the broad and general principles 
there laid down as the basis of governmental duty. From the moment of 
seeing that message, all who have known anything of me have known 
that I stood distinctly opposed to this administration ; not from a factious 
spirit, not with a view to elevate a favorite, or to advance myself, but on 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 209 

(he great principles which have regulated my past life. I honestly be- 
lieve the preservation of the federative principles of our government to be 
inseparably connected with the perpetuation of liberty." 

This public compliment was given him on the 3d of March 1827, the 
last day of the period during which he occupied the office of governor. 
On the 3d of December, 1827, Mr. Tyler took his seat in the senate of 
the United States, and at once arrayed himself with the opposition, which, 
arising from the circumstances attending Mr. Adams's election, and com- 
bining the supporters of Jackson, Crawford, and Calhoun, finally over- 
threw the administration. There were many minor points upon which 
the opposition acted with little or no unity ; consisting of men who had 
but a short time before held conflicting political relations — they were, nev- 
ertheless, firmly united against the administration, and resolute in combat- 
ing its policy and doctrines ; and at the time of Mr. Tyler's entering the 
senate, the entire opposition had rallied in the support of General Jackson. 

In accordance with the Virginia doctrines respecting the powers of the 
general government, and the policy of the country respecting trade and 
commerce, which also coincided with the views entertained by Mr. Tyler 
himself, he voted against the tariff bill of 1828, and the various projects 
for internal improvement which were introduced. In the debate concern- 
ing the powers of the vice-president, Mr. Tyler participated, supporting 
the positions assumed by Mr. Calhoun, who then occupied the chair of 
the senate. 

On the accession of General Jackson to the presidency, Mr. Tyler sup- 
ported his administration, concurring, in this respect, with a large majority 
of the people of Virginia. He, however, pursued an independent course 
in the senate, disapproving of some of the nominations of the president, 
and holding, as he did, to a strict construction of the constitution, in 1831 
he opposed the appropriation to pay the negotiators of the treaty with Tur- 
key, as that mission had not been authorized by Congress. Though a 
sincere friend of the administration, he regarded this act of General Jack- 
son, in appointing commissioners, as a dangerous stretch of the presiden- 
tial power ; and while he by no means withdrew his support from the 
general policy of the party then in power, he felt bound to declare his 
opinion of acts which all his ideas of constitutional authority led him to 
reprobate. 

To projects of internal improvement by the general government, Mr. 
Tyler was uniformly opposed, believing them unconstitutional, as we have 
already stated. He therefore highly approved of General Jackson's veto 
on the Maysville road bill, the passage of which he had previously op- 
posed in the senate, in a speech of considerable length. The subject of 
the tariflf being brought before the senate at the session of 1831-2, by 
Mr. Clay, in a resolution proposing certain changes in the existing duties,, 
a long and able debate arose thereon, in which Mr. Tyler participated.. 
14 



210 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TVLER. 

His speech on this occasion was continued for three days, and evinced an 
extensive knowledge of the subject ; and it was characterized by a warmth, 
earnestness, and depth of eloquence, which gave ample evidence of the 
intensity of his feeling on a topic which then excited much of the public 
attention, at the south. He was opposed to a tariff specially for the pro- 
tection of home industry, but in favor of a tariff for revenue which might 
incidentally afford such protection, and he expressed an anxiety for such 
an adjustment of the question as would restore peace and harmony to the 
Union. 

The question of renewing the charter of the bank of the United States 
came up at the same session. Mr. Tyler steadily opposed the bill to 
modify and continue in force that institution, at every step of its progress 
through the senate, and voted against it on its final passage. After re- 
ceiving the sanction of the house of representatives, the bill renewing the 
charter of the bank was defeated by the veto of President Jackson. 

For the confirmation of Mr. Van Buren, who was nominated at this 
session for minister to England, Mr. Tyler gave his vote ; and viewing the 
tariff of 1832 as a continuance of the system of protection, he voted 
against that measure, although the duties on imports were much reduced 
thereby, on many articles. With the nullifiers of South Carolina Mr. 
Tyler sympathized ; and when the president took decided ground against 
the anti-tariff and nullifying proceedings of that state, the Virginia senator 
did not hesitate to withdraw his support from the administration, on the 
ground that they had abandoned the principles of state-rights, as he under- 
stood them, on which General Jackson had been supported in the south- 
em states, and to which he owed his election as president. A bill called 
the force bill being introduced into the senate, to provide for the collection 
of the revenue, and vesting extraordinary powers in the president, Mr. 
Tyler opposed it in an animated speech. After a lengthened debate, the 
bill, was passed, Mr. Tyler's being the only name in the negative. The 
other opponents of the bill, Mr. Calhoun at their head, left the senate- 
chamber when the vote was taken, considering further opposition useless. 
During the progress of the bill, however, eflbrts were made in both houses 
to terminate the controversy peaceably. Mr. Clay finally introduced a 
bill in the senate, in February, 1833, which, conceived in the spirit of 
concession inculcated in the speech of Mr. Tyler, united the opposing 
parties in its favor, and passed the senate, with few dissenting voices. 
For this Mr. Tyler voted, and the bill, so celebrated since as Mr. Clay's 
compromise act, having previously passed the house, received the signa- 
ture of the president. 

During the preceding session of Congress, Mr. Tyler was re-elected to 
the senate for six years from the 4th of March, 1833. The most promi- 
nent among the proceedings of Congress, at the session of 1833-'4, was 
the action of the two houses upon the removal of the deposites. In the 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 211 

interim between the last adjournment and the commencement of that ses- 
sion, the president determined upon removing the public moneys from the 
bank of the United States. Mr. Duane, the secretary of the treasury, having 
refused to comply with the wishes of the president, was dismissed from 
office, and Mr. Taney was appointed in his place, after which the will of the 
president was accomplished. Early in the session the subject was taken 
up in the senate, and resolutions of censure against the president, intro- 
duced by Mr. Clay, were adopted. For these resolutions Mr. Tyler 
voted, as did the senators from the south and west who held state-rights 
doctrines, and who now acted with Mr. Calhoun, in opposition to the ad- 
ministration of General Jackson. These, joined with the original oppo- 
nents of the administration, formed a decided majority in the senate. 

Mr. Tyler took an active part in the debate on the removal of the de- 
posites. However unconstitutional he thought the establishment of the 
bank of the United States, it had been established by law, and by the 
same law it was made the depository of the public money ; and any act by 
a public officer in derogation of that law, was as much deserving of, and 
as quickly received his censure, as if he had been the most ardent sup- 
porter of the institution. In his views he was sustained by instructions 
from Virginia, which state he said was exactly where she always had been 
— against the assumption of power by the Congress or by the president. 
" Her instructions to me," he continued, " convey the information, that she 
is against the bank, as she has always been ; can any man find his apol- 
ogy for ratifying the late proceedings of the executive department, in the 
mere fact that the bank of the United States is a great evil ; that it ought 
never to have been created ; and that it should not be rechartered ? For 
one, I say, if it is to die, let it die by law. It is a corporate existence 
created by law, and while it exists, entitled to the protection which the 
law throws around private rights. This, sir, is the aspect in which I re- 
gard this question ; and this, I am instructed to say, is the light in which 
Virginia regards it." 

The call was often made upon the committee of finance, of which Mr. 
Tyler was a member, to n^ort a scheme of treasury agency. Mr. Tyler 
answered that he could see no propriety for that call, until the sense of 
the senate should be expressed upon the resolutions then under their con- 
sideration. If the executive were sustained in the power it had exerted 
over the subject, then Congress had nothing to do with it. The great 
question before the country was, whether Congress or the president was 
to be charged with the keeping of the treasury. The latter had already 
decided to establish a treasury agency himself, and if Congress affirmed 
that he had done so with full power and authority, that would be decisive 
of the question as to legislative cognizance. The executive authority 
was, in such case, coextensive with the whole subject, and the legislature 
would encroach upon his rights if it acted at all. , 



212 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 

At this session, Mr. Tylei-, from the committee on finance, which had 
been directed to inquire into the condition and affairs of the United States 
bank, made an able and voluminous report thereon. The report was as- 
sailed by Mr. Benton, immediately upon its introduction into the senate, 
and in reply to him, Mr. Tyler entered into a defence of the document, 
and from his remarks vve make the following extracts : — 

" Nothing," said he, " would please me more than to have the report 
which has been so furiously attacked by the senator from Missouri, re- 
ferred to another committee for their most rigid examination ; and I would 
be well pleased that he be one of the committee. Let him summon his 
witnesses, and take depositions without number ; let him then return with 
his budget to the house, and lay them, with or without an air of triumph, 
on the table. He would find himself mistaken. All his»witnesses com- 
bined would not be able to overthrow the testimony upon which the report 
of the committee is based. There is not a single declaration in the report 
which is not founded upon testimony which cannot lie — written docu- 
mentary evidence which no party testimony can overcome." 

" The honorable senator has denominated the report ' an elaborate de- 
fence of the bank.' If he had paid more attention to the reading, or had 
waited to have it in print, he would not have hazarded such a declaration. 
The committee have presented both sides of the question ; the view most 
favorable, and that most unfavorable to the institution." 

" He has loudly talked of the committee having been made an instru- 
ment of by the bank. For myself, I renounce the ascription. I must tell 
the senator that I can no more be made an instrument of by the bank, than 
by the still greater and more formidable power, the administration. 1 
stand upon this floor to accomplish the purposes for which I am sent. In 
the consciousness of my own honesty, I stand firm and erect. I worship 
alone at the shrine of truth and honor. It is a precious thing in the eyes 
of some, to bask in the sunshine of power. I rest only upon the support 
which has never failed me — the high and lofty feeling of my constituents. 
I would not be an instrument even in their hands, if it were possible for 
them to require it of me, to gratify an unrighteous motive." 

" The committee, in their investigations, have sought for nothing but 
the truth. I am opposed — have always been opposed — to the bank. In 
its creation I regard the constitution as having been violated, and I desire 
to see it expire. But the senate appointed me, with others, to inquire 
whether it was guilty of certain charges, and I should regard myself as 
the basest of mankind were I to charge it falsely. The report is founded 
on unquestionable documentary evidence. I shall hold myself ready to 
answer all the objections which can be raised against it, and to prove, 
from the documents themselves, that the report is made with the utmost 
fairness, and the most scrupulous regard to truth." 

The extracts from Mr. Tyler's speeches and other productions, which 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 213 

we have given, serve to elucidate his political character and modes of 
thinking, as well as to exhibit the uniformity of his course, in adhering 
with singular tenacity to the doctrines of state-rights and strict construc- 
tion of the Virginia school of democracy. His course in the senate 
effected a separation between him and that portion of the democratic party 
in Virginia, who still adhered to General Jackson, and who, in the sequel, 
supported Mr, Van Buren for the presidency. But there was still a wide 
difference between the principles and views entertained by Mr. Tyler, and 
those of the original opponents of General Jackson, who formed the largest 
proportion of the party which took the name of whigs, previous to the 
presidential election of 1836. 

Near the close of the session, in March, 1835, Mr. Tyler was elected 
president of the senate pro tempore, by the united votes of the whig and 
state-rights senators. On taking the chair, he made a brief and eloquent 
address, in the course of which he said : " You are the representatives 
of sovereign states, deputed by them to uphold and maintain their rights 
and interests. You may severally, in your turn, have become the objects 
of attack and denunciation before the public ; but there is not, and can 
not be an American who does not turn his eyes on the senate of the Uni- 
ted States, as to the great conservative body of our federal system, and to 
this chamber as the ark in which the covenant is deposited. To have 
received, therefore, at your hands, this station, furnishes to me abundant 
cause for self-gratulation." 

One of the last acts of Mr. Tyler, at this session, was to vote against the 
amendment made by the house of representatives to the fortification bill, 
placing three millions of dollars at the disposal of the president, to pro- 
vide for anticipated difficulties with France. This was a proposition to 
place the war-making power, belonging solely to Congress, in the hands 
of the president. The amendment was disagreed to by the senate, and 
Congress adjourned without passing the bill. 

At the next session, that of 1835 — '6, during the brief period he re- 
mained in the senate, Mr. Tyler took an active part in behalf of the suf- 
ferers by the great fire in New York, and supported the bill introduced 
into Congress for their relief. In February, 1836, the legislature of Vir- 
ginia passed resolutions instructing the senators from that state to vote for 
a resolution directing the resolution of March 28, 1834, to be expunged 
from the journal of the senate. These resolutions were then, by direc- 
tion of the general assembly, forwarded, by the speakers of the respective 
houses, to the senators from Virginia. 

Mr. Leigh, the colleague of Mr. Tyler, in answer to the resolutions, 
wrote a long and able letter, in which, while he acknowledged the right of 
instruction in all cases where no constitutional point was involved, or 
where any doubt existed as to the constitutionality of any particular meas- 
ure, he denied that he was bound to obey any instruction commanding 



214 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 

him to do an act which, in his conscientious opinion, woulil be, in itself, 
a plain violation of the instrument he was sworn to support, and in its 
consequences dangerous and mischievous in the extreme. He concluded 
his letter by declaring, that he would neither obey the instructions given 
him, nor resign his seat, and expressed the determination to vindicate the 
resolutions of the 28th of March, 1834, at any time when they should be 
brought under consideration. Mr. Leigh, however, resigned his seat 
in 1836. 

Mr. Tyler took a somewhat different course from his colleague ; and 
his conduct on the occasion greatly elevated him in the estimation of the 
public, particularly among the advocates of the doctrine of instruction. 
He might well have been held excusable, even by them, if he had refused 
to obey the instructions, and had retained his seat, for he was supported by 
the fact that the very vote he was now called upon to expunge was given 
under instructions, if not as explicit, at least quite as decisive of the opin- 
ion of the legislature as those now presented. But he was not willing 
then to overthrow or mar in the least degree the consistency of his previ- 
ous life, with regard to the right of instruction. As his first act in the 
legislature of his own state had been the advocacy of that principle, so 
the first speech he had ever made in the Congress of the United States 
was declaratory of what he considered the same truth — the right of the 
constituent to instruct — the duty of the representative to obey. He could 
not obey the instructions he had received without falsifying his own judg- 
ment, and violating his conscience by a breach of that constitution he had 
sworn to support, a clause of which requires that the senate shall " keep 
a journal of its proceedings, and publish it from time to time ;" and in 
such circumstances he was not long in deciding to surrender into the 
hands of those who gave it, or rather their successors, the honorable place 
with which he had been intrusted. He could not silently submit, how- 
ever, to be instructed out of his seat, and he took the opportunity to lay 
before the people of the state and the pubhc generally, in his letter of 
resignation to the legislature of Virginia, an exhibition of the principles by 
which his public life had thus far been guided, and of the motives by 
which his present conduct was ruled. The following are extracts from 
this letter, dated Washington, February 20, 1836 : — 

" I now reaffirm the opinion at all times heretofore expressed by me, 
that instructions are mandatory, provided they do not require a violation 
of the constitution, or the commission of an act of moral turpitude. In 
the course of a somewhat long political life, it must have occurred that 
my opinions have been variant from the opinions of those I represent ; but 
in presenting to me the alternative of resignation in this instance, you 
give me to be distinctly informed that the accomplishment of your object 
is regarded as of such primary importance that my resignation is desired 
if compliance can not be yielded. I am bound to consider you as in this 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 215 

fairly representing the sentiments of our common constituents, the people 
of Virginia, to whom alone you are amenable if you have mistaken their 
wishes. 

" In voting for the resolution of the senate, against which you are now 
so indignant, I did no more than carry out the people's declared views of the 
legislature, as expressed in their resolutions of that day, and which were 
passed by overwhelming majorities of more than two to one in both hou- 
ses. The terms employed by the legislature were strong and decided. 
The conduct of the president was represented as dangerous and alarming 
I was told that it could not be too strongly condemned ; that he had mani ■ 
fested a disposition greatly to extend his official influence ; and because, 
with these declarations before me, I voted for a resolution which declares 
' that the president, in the late executive proceedings, has assumed upon 
himself authority and power not conferred by the constitution and laws, 
but in derogation of both,' I am now ostracized by your fiat, which requires 
obedience or resignation. Compare the resolutions of the general assem- 
bly of that day with the above resolution, and its mildness will be entirely 
obvious. I submit, with all due deference, to yourselves, what is to be 
the condition of the senator in future, if, for yielding obedience to the 
wishes of one legislature, he is to be called upon to resign by another ? 
If he disobeys the first, he is contemned ; if he obeys the last, he violates 
his oath, and becomes an object of scorn and contempt. I respectfully 
ask, if this be the mode by which the great right of instructions is to be 
sustained, may it not degenerate into an engine of faction — an instrument 
to be employed by the outs to get in, instead of being directed to noble 
purposes — to the advancement of the cause of civil liberty ? May it not 
be converted into a political guillotine, devoted to the worst of purposes ? 
Nor are these anticipations at all weakened by the fact, as it existed in 
the case now under consideration, that several of those who constitute the 
present majority in the general assembly, and who now call upon me to 
expunge the journal or to resign my seat, actually voted for the very reso- 
lutions of a previous session, to which I have referred. 

" I dare not touch the journal of the senate. The constitution forbids 
it. In the midst of all the agitations of party, I have heretofore stood by 
that sacred instrument. It is the only post of honor and of safety. A 
seat in the senate is sufficiently elevated to fill the measure of any man's 
ambition ; and as an evidence of the sincerity of my convictions that your 
resolutions can not be executed, without violating my oath, I surrender 
into your hands three unexpired years of my term. I shall carry with 
me into retirement, the principles which I brought with me into public 
life, and by the surrender of the high station to which I was called by the 
voice of the people of Virginia, I shall set an example to my children 
which shall teach them to regard as nothing place and office, when to be 
either obtained or held at the sacrifice of honor." 



216 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 

At the same time, Mr. Tyler placed in the hands of the pjresident of the 
senate, Mr. Van Buren, a letter informing the senate that he had resigned 
into the hands of the general assembly of Virginia his seat as a senator 
from that state. Mr. Rives was elected, by the legislature of Virginia, to 
fill'the vacancy occasioned by Mr. Tyler's resignation, and the latter re- 
tired once more to his home and the practice of his profession. His 
course was highly commended, not only in Virginia, but throughout the 
Union. Soon after his retirement, a public dinner was given to Mr. 
Leigh and himself, and the following was among the toasts expressing 
similar feelings : " Our honored guest, John Tyler — ' Expunged' from a 
post that he adorned, and the functions of which he ever faithfully and 
ably discharged, by the complying tools of an unprincipled aspirant, he is 
but the more endeared to the hearts of his countrymen." 

Some time in 1830, Mr. Tyler had removed from Charles City county 
to Gloucester, where his family had resided until the present year. He 
now again removed to Williamsburg, the ancient dwelling-place of his 
fathers; and though his name was, in 1836, placed upon the electoral 
ticket of some of the states, as a candidate for the vice-presidency, he 
mingled very little, for a time, in political matters, devoting himself exclu- 
sively to his private pursuits. 

He was first nominated for vice-president in Maryland, in December, 
1835, and in that state placed on the ticket with General Harrison, the 
■whig candidate for president. He also received, in 1836, the support of 
the friends of Judge White in the states where that gentleman was the 
candidate for president against Mr. Van Buren ; but Maryland was the 
only state that voted for Harrison which gave its electoral vote to Mr. Ty- 
ler. He, however, received the votes of South Carolina (which state gave 
its vote to Mr. Mangum, of North Carolina, for president), Georgia, and 
Tennessee, for vice-president, in addition to the votes of Maryland, making 
47 in all , Francis Granger receiving the votes of the other states in the 
opposition, including Kentucky. It thus appears that Mr. Tyler was not 
in 1836 considered the whig candidate for vice-president, his principal 
support for that office being derived from the state-rights party of the 
south and west, who in some respects co-operated with the whigs in op- 
position to Jackson and Van Buren. Virginia refused to vote for Richard 
M. Johnson for vice-president, but as the friends of Jackson and Van Bu- 
ren controlled the electoral vote of the state, it was not given to Mr. Tyler, 
but to William Smith, of Alabama. 

In the spring of 1838, Mr. Tyler was elected by the whigs of James 
City county, a member of the house of delegates of Virginia ; and during 
the subsequent session of the legislature he acted with the whig party, 
under which name the different sections of the opposition to Mr. Van Bu- 
ren's administration gradually became amalgamated in Virginia. 

In 1839, Mr. Tyler was elected one of the delegates from Virginia to 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 217 

the whig national convention which met at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to 
nominate candidates for president and vice-president of the United States. 
It is w^ell known that Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, was the favorite candidate of 
the delegates from the southern states, in that convention. The course of Mr. 
Clay in the senate, on many occasions, particularly in bringing about a set- 
tlement of the controversy respecting the tariff and South Carolina nullifi- 
cation, had rendered him popular with the state-rights section of the whigs, 
and they were anxious for his nomination to the presidency. In this feel- 
ing Mr. Tyler warmly participated, with all the Virginia delegation. He 
was chosen one of the vice-presidents of the convention, and exerted his 
influence in favor of Mr. Clay. General Harrison, however, was nomina- 
ted for president, and Mr. Tyler was among those who expressed their 
deep regrets at the defeat of Mr. Clay as a candidate. 

The question of a candidate for president had so much absorbed the 
attention of the whigs, that the subject of a candidate for vice-president 
had attracted but little attention. When General Harrison was nomina- 
ted for the first office, it became necessary, in the judgment of the dele- 
gates, to take a candidate for vice-president from the south, and, after a 
brief consultation, the nomination was offered to Mr. Tyler, and accepted. 
As he was an ardent friend of Mr. Clay, it was supposed that this nomi- 
nation would be popular with the friends of that gentleman, under the feel- 
ings of disappointment with which it was anticipated they would receive 
the nomination of General Harrison. Had the event of Mr. Tyler's suc- 
cession to the presidency been contemplated, it can not be doubted that a 
scrutiny of his principles, and the remembrance of his course and action 
on cherished whig measures, would have caused more hesitancy in pla- 
cing him on the presidential ticket, if not his prompt rejection, by the 
whig convention. 

The speeches, letters, and declarations of Mr. Tyler, during the canvass 
of 1840, were generally satisfactory to the whigs, and gave reasonable 
expectation that he would co-operate with General Harrison and Mr. 
Clay in carrying out the wishes of the whig party, if successful in the 
election. 

The triumph of the whig party, elevated General Harrison to the 
presidency, Mr. Tyler to the vice-presidency, and secured a whig majority 
in both houses of Congress. 

It remains to mention, in this place, that the sudden and lamented 
death of President Harrison, in one month after his inauguration, devolved 
upon Mr. Tyler, in April, 1841, the high and responsible duties of presi- 
dent of the United States. 

There can be no doubt that Mr. Tyler mistook his position in attempt- 
ing to act with the whig party, and in accepting their nomination for one 
of the highest offices in the nation, which, by the dispensation of Providence, 



218 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TYLER. 

placed him in the presidential chair, clothed with the power and patron- 
age of that high station. That the whigs also acted without due reflec- 
tion, in his nomination, is alike evident ; and from these two causes 
flowed the consequences which resulted in the embarrassment, difficul- 
ties, and total loss of popularity with both the great parties of the country, 
on the one side, of the president, and bitter disappointment and chagrin 
on the part of the whigs. 

In person, Mr. Tyler is rather tall and thin, with light complexion, blue 
eyes, and prominent features. His manners are plain and afi'able, and in 
private life he is amiable, hospitable, and courteous. His errors as a 
politician are ascribed, by some, to a want of judgment, to an inordinate 
vanity, and the influence of bad advice ; to which may be added, extreme 
obstinacy in persisting in opinions once formed, without regard to conse- 
quences. 

In 1813, at the age of twenty- three, Mr. Tyler married a lady about 
his own age. Miss Letitia Christian, daughter of Robert Christian, Esq., of 
New Kent county, Virginia. She was a lady much esteemed by her ac- 
quaintances, as a wife, a mother, a friend, and a Christian, being for many 
years a member of the episcopal church. She-died at Washington, Sep- 
tember 10, 1842, leaving three sons and three daughters. While presi- 
dent of the United States, Mr. Tyler was again married, to Miss Julia 
Gardiner, of New York, daughter of the late David Gardiner, Esq., of that 
city, who was killed by an explosion on board the steamship Princeton, in 
February, 1844. The marriage of the president took place at New York, 
on the 26th of June, 1844. Since his retirement from the presidency, 
Mr. Tyler has resided at his seat near Williamsburg, Virginia. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OP 



JAMES KNOX POLK 



Jautes Knox Polk, the eleventh president of the United States, is the 
oldest often children, and was born on the second of November, 1795, in 
Mecklenburg county, North Carolina. His ancestors, whose original 
name. Pollock, has, by obvious transition, assumed its present form, emi- 
grated in the early part of the eighteenth century, from Ireland. The 
family traces their descent from Robert Polk, who was born and married 
in Ireland ; his wife, Magdalen Tusker, was the heiress of Mowning hill. 
They had six sons and two daughters ; Robert Polk, the progenitor of 
James Knox Polk, was the fifth son ; he married a Miss Gullet, and re- 
moved to America. Ezekiel Polk, the grandfather of James K. Polk, was 
one of his sons. 

The Polk family settled in Somerset county, on the eastern shore of 
Marjiand, where some of their descendants still sojourn. Being the only 
democrats of note in that county, they were called the democratic family. 
The branch of the family from which the president is descended, removed 
to the neighborhood of Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, and thence to the west- 
ern frontier of North Carolina, sometime before the commencement of the 
revolutionary war. Some of the Polk family were honorably distin- 
guished in that eventful struggle. On the twentieth of May, 1775, conse- 
quently more than twelve months anterior to the declaration of independence 
of the fourth of July, 1776, the assembled inhabitants of Mecklenburg county 
publicly absolved themselves from their allegiance to the British crown, 
and issued a formal manifesto of independence, in terms of manly eloquence, 
similar to some of the expressions in the declaration of the American 
Congress adopted more than a year afterward. Colonel Thomas Polk, 
the prime mover in this act of noble daring, and one of the signers of this 
first declaration of independence, was the great uncle of the president ; 
and the family is also connected with the Alexanders, chairman and sec- 



220 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF POLK. 

retary of the meeting which adopted the declaration, as well as with Dr. 
Ephrairn Brevard, the author of the declaration itself. 

The father of James K. Polk, was a farmer of unassuming pretensions, 
but enterprising character. Thrown upon his own resources in early life, 
he became the architect of his own fortunes. He was a warm supporter 
of Mr. Jefferson, and through life a firm and undeviating democrat. In 
the autumn of 1806 he removed, with his family of ten children, from the 
homestead in North Carolina, to Tennessee, where he was one of the 
pioneers of the fertile valley of Duck river, a branch of the Cumberland, 
then a wilderness, but now the most flourishing and populous portion of 
the state. In this region the subject of this sketch resided, until his elec- 
tion to the presidency, so that he may be said, literally, to have grown 
with its growth, and strengthened with its strength. Of course, in the in- 
fancy of its settlement, the opportunities for instruction could not be great. 
Notwithstanding this disadvantage — and the still more formidable one of 
a painful affection from which, after years of suffering, he was finally re- 
lieved by a surgical operation — he acquired the elements of a good Eng- 
lish education. Apprehending that his constitution had been too much 
impaired to permit the confinement of study, his father determined, much, 
however, against the will of the son, to make him a commercial man ; and 
with this view placed him with a merchant. 

He remained a few weeks in a situation adverse to his wishes, and in- 
compatible with his taste. Finally, his earnest appeals succeeded in 
overcoming the resistance of his father, and in July, 1813, he was placed, 
first under the care of the Rev. Dr. Henderson, and subsequently at the 
academy of Murfreesborough, Tennessee, then under the direction of Mr. 
Samuel P. Black, justly celebrated in that region as a classical teacher. 
In the autumn of 1815 he entered the university of North Carolina, hav- 
ing, in less than two years and a half, thoroughly prepared himself to com- 
mence his collegiate course, being then in the twentieth year of his age. 

Mr. Polk's career at the university was distinguished. At each semi- 
annual examination, he bore away the first honor, and finally graduated in 
1818, with the highest distinction of his class, and with the reputation of 
being the first scholar in both the mathematics and classics. Of the for- 
mer science he was passionately fond, though equally distinguished as a 
linguist. His course at college was marked by the same assiduity and 
studious application which have since distinguished him. His ambition 
to excel was equalled by his perseverance alone ; in proof of which, it is 
said that he never missed a recitation, nor omitted the punctilious per- 
formance of any duty. Habits of close application at college are apt to be 
despised by those who pride themselves on brilliancy of mind, as if they 
were incompatible. This is a melancholy mistake. Genius has ever 
been defined the faculty of appreciation. The latter is, at least, something 
better, and more available. So carefully has Mr. Polk avoided the pad- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF POLK. 221 

antry of classical display, which is the false taste of our day and country, 
as almost to hide the acquisitions which distinguished his early career. 
His preference for the useful and substantial, indicated by his youthful 
passion for the mathematics, has made him select a style of elocution 
which would perhaps be deemed too plain by the admirers of flashy dec- 
lamation.* 

From the university he returned to Tennessee, with health impaired by 
application, and, in the beginning of the year 1819, commenced the study 
of the law (that profession which has furnished nine of the eleven presi- 
dents of the United States), in the office of the late Felix Grundy, for 
many years a representative and senator of Tennessee in Congress ; under 
whose auspices he was admitted to the bar, at the close of 1820. He 
commenced his professional career in the county of Maury, with great 
advantages, derived from the connexion of his family with its early set- 
tlement. His warmest friends were the sharers of his father's early pri- 
vations and difficulties, and the associates of his own youth. But his 
success was due to his personal qualities still more than to extrinsic ad- 
vantages. A republican in habits as well as in principles, depending for 
the maintenance of his dignity upon the esteem of others, and not upon 
his own assumption, his manners conciliated the general good will. The 
confidence of his friends was justified by the result. His thorough aca- 
demical education, his accurate knowledge of the law, his readiness and 
resources in debate, his unwearied application to business, secured him, 
at once, full employment, and in less than a year he was already a lead- 
ing practitioner. 

Mr. Polk continued to devote some years exclusively to the prosecution 
of his profession, with a progressive augmentation of reputation, and the 
more solid rewards by which it is accompanied. In 1823, he entered 
upon the stormy career of politics, being chosen to represent his county 
in the state legislature, by a heavy majority over the former incumbent, but 
not without formidable opposition. He was for two successive years a 
member of that body, where his ability in debate, and talent for business, 
at once gave him reputation. The early personal and political friend of 
General Jackson, he was one of those who, in the session of 1823-'24, 
called that distinguished man from his retirement, by electing him to the 
senate of the United States. 

In August, 1825, being then in his thirtieth year, Mr. Polk was chosen 
to represent his district in Congress, and took his seat in the national 
councils in December following. He brought with him those fundamen- 
tal principles to which he has adhered through all the mutations of party. 
From his early youth he was a democratic republican of the strictest sect. 
He has ever regarded the constitution of the United States as an instru- 
ment of specific and limited powers, and he was found in opposition to 

* For a part of this sketch we arc indebted to the Democratic Review of May, 1S38. 



222 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF POLK. 

every measure that aimed to consolidate federal power, or to detract from 
the dignity and legitimate functions of the state governments. He signal- 
ized his hostility to the doctrines of those who held to a more liberal con- 
struction of the constitution, in all their modes. He always refused his 
assent to the appropriation of money by the federal government for what 
he deemed the unconstitutional purpose of constructing works of internal 
improvement within the states. He took ground early against the con- 
stitutionality as well as expediency of a national bank ; and in August, 1829, 
consequently several months before the appearance of General Jackson's 
first message, announced then his opinions in a published letter to his 
constituents. He has ever been opposed to a tariff for protection, and was, 
at all times, the strenuous advocate of a reduction of the revenue to the 
economical wants of the government. Entertaining these opinions, and 
entering Congress, as he did, at the first session after the election of John 
Quincy Adams to the presidency, he promptly took his stand against the 
doctrines developed in the message of that chief magistrate, and was, 
during the continuance of his administration, resolutely opposed to its 
leading measures. 

When Mr. Polk entered Congress, he was, with one or two exceptions, 
the junior member of that body. His first speech was in favor of a propo- 
sition to amend the constitution in such manner as to prevent the choice 
of president of the United States from devolving on Congress in any event. 
This speech at once attracted public attention by the force of its reason- 
ing, the copiousness of its research, and the -spirit of indignation, with 
reference to the then recent election by Congress, by which it was ani- 
mated. At the same session the subject of the Panama mission was 
brought before Congress, and the project was opposed by Mr. Polk, who 
strenuously protested against the doctrine of the friends of the administra- 
tion, that as the president and senate are the treaty-making power, the 
house of representatives can not deliberate upon, nor refuse the appropri- 
ations necessary to carry them into effect. The views of Mr. Polk he 
embodied in a series of resolutions, which reproduced in a tangible shape, 
the doctrines, on this question, of the republican party of 1798. The first 
of these resolutions declares, " that it is the constitutional right and duty 
of the house of representatives, when called upon for appropriations to 
defray the expenses of foreign missions, to deliberate on the expediency 
of such missions, and to determine and act thereon, as in their judgment 
may seem most conducive to the public good." 

From this time Mr. Polk's history became inseparably interwoven with 
that of the house. He was prominently connected with every important 
question and upon every one took the boldest democratic ground. He 
continued to oppose the administration of Mr. Adams until its termination, 
and during the whole period of General Jackson's terms he was one of 
its leading supporters, and at times, and on certain questions of paramount 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF POLK. 223 

importance its chief reliance. In December, 1827, Mr. Polk was placed 
on the committee of foreign affairs, and sometime after, as chairman of a 
select committee, he made a report on the surplus revenue, denying the 
constitutional power of Congress to collect from the people, for distribu- 
tion, a surplus beyond the wants of the government, and maintaining that 
the revenue should be reduced to the exigencies of the public service. In 
1830, he defended the act of General Jackson in placing his veto on the 
Maysville road bill, and thus checking the system of internal improvement 
by the general government, which had been entered upon by Congress. 

In December, 1832, Mr. Polk was transferred to the committee of 
ways and means, and at that session presented the report of the minority 
of that committee, with regard to certain charges against the United States 
bank ; this minority report presenting conclusions utterly adverse to the 
institution which had been the subject of inquiry. 

The course of Mr. Polk arrayed against him the friends of the bank, and 
they held a meeting at Nashville to denounce his report. His re-election 
to Congress was opposed, but, after a violent contest, Mr. Polk was re-elected 
by a majority of more than three thousand. In September, 1833, Presi- 
dent Jackson determined upon the removal of the public deposites from 
the bank of the United States. This measure, which caused great ex- 
citement throughout the country, was carried into effect in October fol- 
lowing, and at the subsequent session of Congress it was the leading sub- 
ject of discussion. In the senate the president was censured for the 
measure, but he was sustained in the house of representatives. On this 
occasion Mr. Polk, as chairman of the committee of ways and means, vin- 
dicated the president's measure, and by his coolness, promptitude, and 
skill, carried through the resolutions of the committee relating to the bank 
and the deposites, and sustaining the administration, after which the cause 
of the bank was abandoned in Congress. 

Toward the close of the memorable session of 1834, Mr. Speaker Ste- 
venson resigned the chair, as well as his seat in the house. The majority 
of the democratic party preferred Mr. Polk as his successor, but in conse- 
quence of a division in its ranks, the opposition united with the democratic 
friends of John Bell, of Tennessee, and thereby succeeded in electing that 
gentleman, then a professed friend, but since a decided opponent, of the 
president and his measures. Mr. Polk's defeat produced no change in 
his course. He remained faithful to his party, and assiduous in the per- 
formance of his arduous duties. 

In December, 1835, Mr. Polk was elected speaker of the house of rep- 
resentatives, and again chosen to that station in 1837, at the extra session 
held in the first year of Mr. "Van Buren's administration. The duties of 
speaker were discharged by him during five sessions, with ability, at a 
time when party feelings ran high in the house, and in the beginning un- 
usual difficulties were thrown in his way by the animosity of his political 



224 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF POLK. 

opponents. During the first session in which he presided, more appeals 
were taken from his decision than had occurred in the whole period since 
the origin of the government ; but he was uniformly sustained by the 
house, including many of his political adversaries. Notwithstanding the 
violence with which he had been assailed, Congress passed, at the close 
of the session, in March, 1837, a unanimous vote of thanks to its presi- 
ding officer, from whom it separated with the kindest feelings. In the 
twenty-fifth Congress, over which he. presided as speaker at three ses- 
sions, commencing in September, 1837, and ending in March, 1839, par- 
ties were more nearly balanced (Mr. Polk's majority as speaker being only 
eight), and the most exciting questions were agitated during the whole 
period. At the close of the term, Mr. Elmore, of South Carolina, moved 
" that the thanks of the house be presented to the Hon. James K. Polk, 
for the able, impartial, and dignified manner in which he has presided 
over its deliberations, and performed the arduous and important duties of 
the chair." On this resolution, a long and excited debate arose, which 
was terminated by the previous question ; when the resolution was 
adopted by 94 in the affirmative to 57 in the negative. But few of the 
members of the opposition concurred in the vote of approval. The 
speaker, in adjourning the house, made a reply of more than ordinary length, 
and showing, on his part, deep feeling. Among other remarks, he said : 
" When I look back to the period when I first took my seat in this house, 
and then look around me for those who were at that time my associates here, 
I find but few, very few, remaining. But five members who were here with 
me fourteen years ago, continue to be members of this body. My service 
here has been constant and laborious. I can perhaps say what but few 
others, if any, can, that I have not failed to attend the daily sittings of this 
house a single day since I have been a member of it, save on a single oc- 
casion, when prevented for a short time by indisposition. In my inter- 
course with the members of this body, when I occupied a place upon the 
floor, though occasionally engaged in debates upon interesting public ques- 
tions, and of an exciting character, it is a source of unmingled gratifica- 
tion to me to recur to the fact, that on no occasion was there the slightest 
personal or unpleasant collision with any of its members. Maintaining, 
and at all times expressing, my own opinions firmly, the same right was 
fully conceded to others. For four years past, the station I have occupied, 
and a sense of propriety, in the divided and unusually-excited state of pub- 
lic opinion and feeling, which has existed both in this house and the 
country, have precluded me from participating in your debates. Other 
duties were assigned me. 

" The high office of speaker, to which it has been twice the pleasure 
of this house to elevate me, has been at all times one of labor and high 
responsibility. It has been made my duty to decide more questions of 
parliamentary law and order, many of them of a complex and difficult 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF POLK. 225 

character, arising often in the midst of high excitement, in the course of 
our proceedings, than had been decided, it is beheved, by all my prede- 
cessors, from the foundation of the government. This house has uni- 
formly sustained me, without distinction of the political parties of which 
it has been composed. I return them my thanks for their constant support 
in the discharge of the duties I have had to perform. 

" But, gentlemen, my acknowledgments are especially due to the major- 
ity of this house, for the high and flattering evidence they have given me 
of their approbation of my conduct as the presiding officer of the house, 
by the resolution you have been pleased to pass. I regard it as of infi- 
nitely more value than if it had been the common, matter-of-course, and 
customary resolution which, in the courtesy usually prevailing between 
the presiding officer and the members of any deliberative assembly, is 
always passed, at the close of their deliberations. I regard this as the 
highest and most valued testimonial I have ever received from this house, 
because I know that the circumstances under which it has passed, have 
made it matter of substance, and not of mere form. I shall bear it in 
grateful remembrance to the latest hour of my life. 

" I trust this high office may in future times be filled, as doubtless it 
will be, by abler men. It can not, I know, be filled by any one who will 
devote himself with more zeal and untiring industry to do his whole duty, 
than I have done." 

Few public men have pursued a firmer or more consistent course than 
Mr. Polk, in adhering to the democratic party, in every vicissitude. In 
1835, when all of his colleagues of the Tennessee delegation, in the 
house of representatives, determined to support Judge White, of that 
state, as the successor to General Jackson, for the presidency, he incurred 
the hazard of losing his popularity throughout the state, by avowing his 
unalterable purpose not to separate from the great body of the democratic 
party, in the presidential election. He therefore became identified with 
the friends of Mr. Van Buren, in Tennessee, in 1836, when Judge White 
received the vote of the state by a popular majority of over nine thousand. 

After a service of fourteen years in Congress, Mr. Polk in 1839 de- 
clined a re-election from the district which had so long sustained him. 
He was then taken up by the friends of the administration in Ten- 
nessee, as a candidate for governor, to oppose Newton Cannon, who was 
then governor of the state, and supported by the Whig party for re-elec- 
tion. After an animated canvass, during which Mr. Polk visited the dif- 
ferent counties of that extensive state, and addressed the people on the 
political topics of the day, the election took place in August, 1839, and 
resulted in a majority for Mr. Polk, of more than 2,500 over Governor 
Cannon. At the ensuing session of the legislature. Governor Polk was 
nominated by that body for vice-president of the United States, to be 
placed on the ticket with Mr. Van Buren. He was afterward nominated 
15 



226 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF POLK. 

for the same office in several other states, but at the election of 1840 he 
received one electoral vote only for vice-president, which vsras given by 
one of the electors in Virginia. 

Having served as governor of Tennessee for the constitutional term of 
two years, Mr. Polk was a candidate for re-election in August, 1841. His 
prospect was unpromising, as the state in 1840 showed a Whig majority 
of twelve thousand at the presidential election. The result was the de- 
feat of Mr. Polk, and the election of James C. Jones, the whig candidate, 
as governor, by a majority of 3,224. Mr. Polk therefore retired from 
public life, at the expiration of his executive term. Two years after, in 
1843, he was again a candidate for the executive chair, in opposition to 
Governor Jones, but he was the second time defeated, and the whig can- 
didate re-elected, by a majority of 3,833. 

From October, 1841, until his elevation to the highest office in the 
Union, Mr. Polk remained in private life, not, however, an inert spectator 
of the wild and troubled drama of politics. Happy in the confidence of 
his immediate neighbors, and his numerous political friends throughout the 
state, in the affections of a charming family, and in the ardent friendship 
of Andrew Jackson; he had determined to withdraw himself from the anx- 
ieties and labors of public life. But the voice of the democracy of Ten- 
nessee forbade the gratification of his wishes ; as we have seen, he 
was repeatedly summoned to stand forward as its representative for gov- 
ernor of the state, and he yielded to the summons, whatever might have 
been the prospects of success. 

Mr. Polk did not conceal his opinions on political subjects, when called 
upon by his fellow-citizens to express them. Those who differed from 
him had no difficulty in ascertaining the fact of the difference. A proof 
of this was found in the circumstance which developed his opinions on 
the subject of Texas. The citizens of Cincinnati had, early in 1844, ex- 
pressed their " settled opposition" to the annexation of that republic to the 
United States, and invited him to announce his concurrence in their judg- 
ment. In his reply, he said : " Let Texas be re-annexed, and the author- 
ity and laws of the United States be established and maintained within 
her limits, as also in the Oregon territory, and let the fixed policy of our 
government be, not to permit Great Britain to plant a colony or hold do- 
minion over any portion of the people or territory of either. These are 
my opinions ; and without deeming it necessary to extend this letter, by 
assigning the many reasons which influence me in the conclusions to which 
I come, I regret to be compelled to differ so widely from the views ex- 
pressed by yourselves, and the meeting of citizens of Cincinnati, whom 
you represent." 

On the 29th of May, 1844, Mr. Polk received the nomination of the 
democratic national convention, assembled at Baltimore, for president of 
the United States. To this high office he was elected in the fall of the 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF POLK. 227 

same year, by the people of the United States, and his majority over Mr. 
Clay, the Whig candidate, as expressed through the electoral colleges, in 
December, 1844, was 65. The votes of the presidential electors were — • 
for James K. Polk 170, for Henry Clay 105. George M. Dallas was 
elected vice-president by the same majority, over Theodore Frelinghuy- 
sen. The votes were counted in the house of representatives, on the 10th 
of February, 1845. The president elect, having repaired to the seat of 
government, informed the joint committee of Congress, who waited on 
him, that, " in signifying his acceptance of the office to which he had been 
chosen by the people, he expressed his deep sense of gratitude to them, 
for the confidence which they had reposed in him, and requested the com- 
mittee to convey to their respective houses of Congress, assurances, that, 
in executing the responsible duties which would devolve upon him, it 
would be his anxious desire to maintain the honor and promote the 
welfare of the country." 

In person, President Polk is of middle stature, with a full angular brow, 
and a quick, penetrating eye. The expression of his countenance is 
grave, but its serious cast is often relieved by a peculiarly pleasant smile, 
indicative of the amenity of his disposition. The amiable character of 
his private life, which has ever been upright and pure, secures to him the 
esteem and friendship of all who have the advantage of his acquaintance. 
He married a lady of Tennessee, who is a member of the presbyterian 
church, and well qualified, by her virtues and accomplishments, equally 
to adorn the circles of private life, or the station to which she has been 
called. They have no children. 



228 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JAMES K. POLK. 

THE LAST DAYS AND DEATH OF MR. POLK. 

Immediately after the inauguration of his successor, Gen. Taylor, to the 
presidency, in March, 1849, Mr. Polk, accompanied by his lady and a few 
friends, set out on his journey to Tennessee, intending to pass the remain- 
der of his days in retirement, at Nashville, on the Cumberland river, where 
he had purchased an elegant seat for his future residence. He passed 
through several of the southern and southwestern states on his journey, 
and was everywhere received with demonstrations of respect by the 
people. 

After his arrival at Nashville, he devoted his time principally to the 
improvement and embellishment of his estate ; but it pleased Providence 
that the days of his retirement should be few in number. In the month 
of June, he was seized with a chronic diarrhoea, to which disease he had 
before been subject, which after a few days of suffering, terminated his 
mortal career on the 15th of June, 1849, in the 54th year of his age, 
having on his death-bed, received the ordinance of baptism from a meth- 
odist clergyman. Public honors to his memory were paid throughout the 
United States. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OF 



ZACHARY TAYLOR, 



Virginia, the "Ancient Dominion" of the British American colonies, 
has obtained also the name of the " Mother of Presidents," among the states ; 
it being the native state of no less than seven of the presidents of the 
United States, including Zachary Taylor, the twelfth on the list of those 
who have filled that high station. It is worthy of remark, that three of 
these Virginians have been elected without the aid of the electoral votes 
of their native state. 

The family of the Taylors of Virginia, to which the twelfth president 
belongs, is honorably distinguished in the annals of the colony and the 
state. Its ancestors of the same name emigrated from England, with other 
friends of liberty, and settled in the southeastern part of the colony of 
Virginia in the year 1692. Among the different branches and connex- 
ions of the family are the Madisons, Lees, Barbours, Pendletons, Con- 
ways, Taliaferos, Hunts, Gaineses, and others, whose public services and 
patriotism, during more than a century, are commemorated in colonial and 
national history. 

Richard Taylor, the father of General Zachary Taylor, was born in 
Virginia, on the 22d of March, 1744. He received a plain but solid edu- 
cation, and in boyhood evinced the bold and adventurous spirit which after- 
ward led him to seek a home in the western wilderness. When still a 
youth, he made a journey to Kentucky, and thence to the banks of the 
Mississippi, surveying the country as far as Natchez, and returning on 
foot, without guide or companion, through pathless woods, inhabited only 
by savages and wild beasts, to his father's house in Virginia.* 

At the age of thirty-five, on the 20th of August, 1779, Richard Taylor 
married Sarah Strother, a young lady of highly respectable connexions, 
then in her twentieth year. At this time he held a colonel's commission 

• For part of the facts mentioned in this sketch, we are indebted to Try's Life of General Tay- 
lor ; also to Montgomery's memoir of the same. 



230 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

in the Virginia line, and served with zeal and valor throughout the revo- 
lutionary war. He was engaged in several of the most important battles 
of that war, particularly in the brilliant achievement of Trenton, where he 
rendered distinguished and valuable aid to General Washington. 

Five sons and three daughters were the offspring of the marriage of 
Colonel Richard Taylor — the first child born in 1781. His third son, 
Zachary Taylor, the subject of this memoir, was born in Orange 
county, Virginia, on the 24th of November, 1784. In the following sum- 
mer his father fulfilled his long-cherished intention of emigrating to Ken- 
tucky, only ten years after the first habitation of a white man had been 
erected in the vast region between the western boundary of Virginia and 
the Mississippi. In the emigration of Colonel Richard Taylor to this 
country, he had been preceded by his brother Hancock Taylor, a brave 
and intelligent man, who lost his life by the Indians while engaged in 
surveying lands in the Ohio valley. He is said to have selected for his 
farm the site of the present city of Louisville. 

The early years of Zachary Taylor were passed under the guidance of 
such men, and under such circumstances for the development of a bold 
spirit and active intellect. His father had settled in Jefferson county, 
near Louisville, where he acquired a large estate by his industry and 
thrift, and honorable consideration by his intelligence, bravery, and patri- 
otism. As Louisville rose into importance, his own fortune and local 
distinction increased. He received from President Washington a com- 
mission as collector of that port, New Orleans being then a Spanish pos- 
session. Richard Taylor was also one of the framers of the constitution 
of Kentucky; represented Jefferson county for many years in both branches 
of the legislature, and was a member of the electoral colleges which voted 
for Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Clay. Among the politicians of Ken- 
tucky he is remembered as one of the few men of the " Old Court party" 
who could be elected from Jefferson county during the excitement of the 
old and new court question. He died on his plantation, near Louisville, 
leaving to survive him three sons and three daughters, of whom one son 
and two daughters have since died. His two surviving sons, Zachary 
and Joseph, have both chosen a military profession, as did their brother 
Hancock, who died in 1808. 

One of the chief cares of Colonel Taylor was the education of his 
children ; but during the first ten or fifteen years of his residence in Ken- 
tucky, the sparseness of the population, and the exposure of the inhabit- 
ants to Indian hostilities, made the accomplishment of his purpose very 
difficult. A school for the rudiments of English merely was established 
in his neighborhood by Elisha Ayres, a native of Connecticut, who after- 
ward returned to that state, and now resides, at the advanced age of four- 
score years, at Preston, near Norwich. To Mr. Ayres, as his teacher, 
was Zachary Taylor sent in his early years, to receive such instruction as 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 231 

was practicable under the circumstances, while constant care and watch- 
fulness were necessary on the part of his father and other guardians of 
his youth, for protection against savage foes. 

After the Indians were subdued by the decisive victory of General 
Wayne, in 1794, a general peace was concluded with them, in the follow- 
ing year, and from that period the prosperity of Kentucky advanced rapidly 
with the increase of population. Zachary Taylor was reared by his father 
to his own profession, that of a farmer ; and, until he attained the age of 
twenty-one, was practically engaged in that laborious occupation, laying 
the foundation of the robust health, hardy habits, and persevering industry, 
which have been the test of various climates, rude fare, and severe duty, 
during a military life of more than forty years. The military service very 
early engaged his affections and excited his ambition. When Aaron 
Burr's movements in the west began to arouse suspicion, the patriotic 
young men of Kentucky formed volunteer companies to oppose his de- 
signs by arms, if occasion should demand such a result. The brothers 
Taylor were enrolled in a troop raised for this purpose. Their services 
were not required by the events, and after the alarm had subsided, Zach- 
ary returned to his farm. 

On the death of his brother, Lieutenant Hancock Taylor, who held a 
commission in the United States army, an opportunity was afforded Zach- 
ary of obtaining the vacancy. Through the influence of his relative, James 
Madison, then secretary of state, and of his uncle, Major Edmund Tay- 
lor, he received from President Jefferson, on the 3d of May, 1 808, his 
commission as first lieutenant in the seventh regiment of United States 
infantry. At this time, when he was in the twenty-fourth year of his age, 
he was in the enjoyment of a competency from his occupation as a farmer. 
But the activity of his mind, and his taste for a military profession, led 
him to prefer the care and privations of a soldier's life to the quiet and 
comforts of a landed proprietor at home. His first experience in his new 
vocation had nearly proved fatal. He was ordered to report himself to 
General Wilkinson, in New Orleans ; and being seized there with the 
yellow fever, was obliged to return home for the recovery of his health. 
He appears to have employed his time sedulously in the study of his pro- 
fession, as we find him, three years from this time, fulfilling with honor a 
dangerous and important post. 

In 1810,.Lieuienant Taylor was married to Miss Margaret Smith, a lady 
of Maryland, of a highly respectable family in that state. She was sister 
of the late Major R. S. Smith, of the marine corps. 

The Indian tribes on the northwestern frontier of the United States 
having been excited to feelings of hostilities against the Americans, as was 
supposed and believed through the agency of British emissaries sent 
among them, and a general league of the tribes being on the point of 
formation, by the influence of the noted chief Tecumseh and his brother 



232 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

the Prophet, the American government took early steps to counteract 
their operations. General Harrison, then governor of the northwestern 
territory, was ordered to march a competent force into the Indian 
country. 

After the declaration of war, in 1812, Taylor was placed in command 
of Fort Harrison, a block-house and stockade, which had been erected by 
order of General Harrison, on the Wabash river, about fifty miles above 
Vincennes. Congress declared war against Great Britain on the 19th of 
June, 1812, and at no previous period was the spirit of those Indians who 
were allies of England, and led on by Tecumseh and the Prophet, so 
fully aroused to the determination of exterminating the Americans on the 
northwestern frontier as at this time. Their first object of attack was 
Fort Harrison, and three months after war with England had been for- 
mally declared, they were banded for the purpose of this and other acts 
of hostility. Captain Taylor had some intimations of their intentions, 
which were confirmed on the 3d of September, by the report of guns in 
the vicinity of the fort. On the following day it was discovered that two 
men had been murdered and scalped by the Indians. Captain Taylor, 
therefore, made every effort in his power for defence. The whole force 
under his command was about fifty men, of whom nearly two thirds were 
invalids, and he himself was just recovering from a fever. The Indians 
were aware of his weakness, but preferred the exercise of their native 
cunning to the hazard of an open attack. A deputation of the Prophet's 
party came to the fort with a white flag, and affecting peaceable intentions. 
Captain Taylor was not deceived by this stratagem, and he made prepa- 
rations for an assault from the enemy. At night a watch was set, and the 
remaining few retired to rest. An hour before midnight the report of a 
musket was heard, and Taylor, springing from his brief sleep, found his 
savage foes were making an attack upon the fort. On their approach, the 
sentinels ha4 retreated within, and it was discovered that the lower build- 
ing was already fired by the Indians, rendering the situation of the garri- 
son one of extreme peril. The young captain, however, retained his 
composure, and while he directed a part of his small force to carry buck- 
ets of water to extinguish the flames, the other soldiers returned the fire 
of the Indians by a steady discharge of musketry, the assailants, during 
seven hours, abating no effort to carry the fort, and being for some time 
under the cover of a very dark night. In this protracted attack only three 
of the garrison were killed and three wounded, while the Indians suffered 
severely from their exposed situation. At six o'clock on the morning of 
the 5th, dispirited by their loss, they abandoned the attempt to carry the 
fort, and retired from the spot, after destroying all the provisions of the 
post, and killing or driving off all the horses and cattle. 

The account of this affair by Captain Taylor, in a letter to General 
Harrison, dated the 10th of September, 1812, is his first official despatch, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 233 

and has the unaffected spirit, without the experienced style, of his more 
mature productions. 

The failure of their enterprise against Fort Harrison disheartened the 
Indians, and they abandoned for a time any further attempts against it; yet 
the garrison expected another attack, and Captain Taylor sent to General 
Harrison an account of his situation, and an application for assistance. 
A large force, under General Hopkins, was immediately sent to the relief 
of the garrison, then reduced to want by sickness, fatigue, and the loss 
of provisions. 

The conduct of Taylor at Fort Harrison was not overlooked by his su- 
perior officers, by the public, or by the government. General Hopkins, 
in a letter to the governor of Kentucky, said of him : " The firm and 
almost unparalleled defence of Fort Harrison by Captain Zachary Taylor, 
has raised for him a fabric of character not to be effaced by eulogy." The 
president afforded a satisfactory proof of his favorable opinion, by con- 
ferring upon Taylor the rank of major by brevet — the oldest instance in 
the service of this species of promotion. 

The Indians, notwithstanding their defeat, continued their depredations 
upon the inhabitants on the frontier, and to arrest their atrocities General 
Hopkins planned an expedition against the Indian villages on the Illinois, and 
commenced his march about the middle of October. But the volunteers 
under his command evinced insubordination, and the general resolved to 
abandon the expedition. The villages, however, were attacked by a de- 
tachment under Colonel Russell, and destroyed. In the following month, 
General Hopkins undertook a second expedition, directed against the 
Prophet's and Winebago town, in which Major Taylor took part, and re- 
ceived the commendations of the general. Several skirmishes occurred, 
in some of which our troops suffered severely. They succeeded in 
achieving their main objects, devastating the enemy's country and destroy- 
ing their settlements. The winter forced both parties into a cessation of 
active hostilities. From this time to the close of the war with Great 
Britain, Major Taylor was engaged on the northwest frontier, accom- 
plishing the purposes of the government with unremitting vigilance. 

In 1814, Major Taylor commanded an expedition against the British 
and Indians on Rock river, a branch of the Mississippi. By order of 
General Howard, Major Taylor left Fort Independence, on the 2d August, 
at the head of a detachment of about three hundred and fifty men, and 
proceeded in boats up the Mississippi to Rock river, where they arrived 
on the 4th of September. The British and Indians being strongly posted 
near the mouth of the river, and well provided with artillery, commenced 
firing upon the Americans before they had an opportunity to land, and the 
boats were exposed to the fire of the artillery and musketry for a consid- 
erable time, which was returned by Taylor's troops, from small arms and 
the cannon on board the boats. The Americans then dropped down the 



234 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

river about three miles, and landed ; being followed by the enemy, Taylor 
halted on a small prairie and prepared his troops for action, when the 
British and Indians hastily retired. The Americans in this affair had 
eleven men killed and wounded. 

Taylor then called a council of his officers, and as the enemy was at 
least three to one in number to the Americans, it was decided that it 
would be madness to attack them in their position, without a prospect of 
success. Major Taylor therefore determined to drop down the river to 
the Des Moines rapids, and execute one of the principal objects of the 
expedition, namely, to erect a fort to command the river ; which was done, 
and the same was called Fort Madison. The details of this expedition. 
Major Taylor communicated to General Howard, in an official despatch, 
dated September 6, 1814. 

On the restoration of peace with Great Britain, in 1815, Congress 
adopted the policy of reducing the army and of annulling promotions made 
during the war. Among other officers who suffered from this policy was 
Major Taylor, who was reduced to the rank of captain ; in consequence 
of which he resigned his commission, and left the service, returning to 
his family, from whom he had so long been separated, and resuming his 
agricultural pursuits. 

In consequence of the influence of his friends, who were not content 
to see him retire from the army, for such a cause, he was reinstated by 
President Madison, in the course of the year, and consented again to leave 
his home and its attractions for the monotonous service of the army in 
time of peace. In 1816, Major Taylor was ordered to Green Bay, on 
Lake Michigan, and remained in command of that post for two years. 
Returning to Kentucky, he passed a year with his family, and was then 
ordered to join Colonel Russell at New Orleans. Except during a tem- 
porary absence, when recalled by the illness of his wife, he continued in 
the south for several years, generally engaged in some active duty. One 
of his labors was the opening of a military road, and another, the erection 
of Fort Jesup — the latter in 1822. On the 20th of April, 1819, Taylor 
received the commission of a lieutenant-colonel. In 1824, he was en- 
gaged at Louisville in the recruiting service, and in the latter part of that 
year he was ordered to the city of Washington. 

In 1826, he was member of a board of officers of the army and militia 
(of which General Scott was president), convened by Mr. Barbour, then 
secretary of war, to consider and propose a system for the organization and 
improvement of the militia of the United States. In this board, Taylor's 
opinions were in favor of maintaining the militia strictly as citizen-sol- 
diery, instead of giving them the character of a regular army, as proposed 
by some. The report drawn by General Scott, and adopted on motion of 
Colonel Taylor, was approved in Congress, but was not carried into effect. 

Resuming his duties on the northwestern frontier, Taylor continued for 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 235 

five years in that position, where he seems to have been unconsciously 
preparing himself in his profession for the splendid achievements of his 
latter years. A writer in the " Literary World" thus mentions him : " As 
plain Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, I have often seen him putting his men 
through the battalion drill, on the northern banks of the Wisconsin, in the 
depth of February. This would seem only characteristic of the man who 
has since proved himself equally ' Rough and Ready' under the scorch- 
ing sun of the tropics. But, looking back through long years to many a 
pleasant hour spent in the well-selected library of the post which Colonel 
Taylor then commanded, we recur now with singular interest to the 
agreeable conversations held in the room which was the colonel's favorite 
resort, amid the intervals of duty." And the same chronicler of his 
severe habits of discipline and study continues : " Nor will the reader 
think these personal reminiscences impertinent, when we add that our 
object in recurring to them here is simply to mention that, remembering 
alike the wintry drill and the snug book-room, Taylor's hardihood — the 
idea of which now so readily attaches to his soubriquet of ' Rough and 
Ready' — would certainly not then have struck a stranger as more char- 
acteristic than his liberal-minded intelligence." 

In 1832, Taylor was promoted by President Jackson to the rank of 
colonel. During the previous year, the difficulties between the white set- 
tlers near Rock river, Illinois, and the Sac Indians under the celebrated 
chief Black Hawk, had been fomented, by bad and interested white men, 
to a point of open hostilities. Black Hawk and his brother the Prophet, 
at the head of a large party of Indians, having defeated an American vol- 
unteer force near Rock river, on the 14th of May, 1832, the people of 
Illinois became greatly alarmed, and the secretary of war ordered about a 
thousand regular troops, under the command of General Scott, to the 
scene of action, and active hostilities ensued, and continued for three 
months. In July, General Scott was reinforced by 2,500 men, under 
General Atkinson, including 400 regulars under Colonel Taylor. Toward 
the close of the month the Indians retreated into the wilderness, and Gen- 
eral Atkinson, with a detachment of 1,300 men, including the regulars 
under Colonel Taylor, pursued them. By great perseverance, during a 
forced march, the Americans succeeded in overtaking the Indians near the 
junction of the Mississippi and Iowa rivers, where a desperate conflict 
ensued, which resulted in a total route of the Indians, many falling by our 
arms, others perishing in the river, and the rest dispersing or submitting 
themselves prisoners. The chief. Black Hawk, who then escaped, was 
in the course of the month surrendered by some of his faithless allies, 
and with his capture ended the war. The chief and his fellow-prisoners 
were confided to the charge of Colonel Taylor, who conveyed them to 
the Jefl'erson barracks, where they arrived about the middle of September, 

After the Black Hawk war, Colonel Taylor was for a short time at 



236 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

Louisville, with his family, and was thence ordered to Prairie du Chien, 
to the command of Fort Crawford, a work which had been erected under 
his superintendence. Here he remained until 1836, when his services 
were required in Florida, to assist in reducing the Seminole Indians to 
submission. To that field he immediately repaired, although he might 
with propriety have asked of the government a season of repose, having 
very rarely enjoyed the ease and tranquillity of home during a period of 
more than twenty-five years. 

The Seminole Indians, the remnants of the aborigines of Florida, were re- 
quired by the government of the United States to emigrate from that territory 
to lands appropriated for their occupation on the west of the Mississippi 
river. A treaty with the Seminole chiefs for the removal of their tribe was 
concluded at Payne's landing, in Florida, in May, 1832, by which treaty they 
were allowed three years to depart. The government was first advised 
in 1834 of their disinclination to leave their homes and those of their 
fathers. But as late as the spring of 1835, there was among the whites in 
Florida a confidence in the calm disposition of the Seminoles, and their 
willingness to submit to the destiny of their race. A daring chief, how- 
ever, arose among this tribe, bearing the name of Osceola, destined to 
hold a place in history with other distinguished leaders of the aborigines 
who have resisted the progress of the Anglo-Saxons on this continent. 
By inheritance Osceola enjoyed no title or distinction among the Semi- 
noles. He derived his origin from the Creeks, and had afl^ected, until over 
thirty years of age, pacific feelings toward the whites. At length, throw- 
ing off disguise, he declared openly against the United States, supplanting 
himself the legitimate chiefs of the Seminoles ; and he even put to death 
those who were for peaceful measures. He acquired perfect ascendency 
over his Indian brethren, and his signal war-cry met with a response from 
the remnants of the tribes who were still inhabitants of Florida. Murders 
were committed on the frontiers, and at one time even St. Augustine was 
threatened by the hostile Indians. 

The United States troops at this time in Florida numbered about 500 
men, stationed at several posts, General Clinch being in command. On 
the 23d of December, 1835, two companies under Major Dade, while 
marching to join the general, were surprised by a large body of Indians^ 
and, after a protracted resistance, were all massacred, except three men, 
who, exhausted with wounds, escaped to tell the fate of their comrades. 
Open war now commenced. Many Creeks joined the Seminoles, and the 
United States government found it necessary to send in succession its 
most able officers and best troops into the field. On the part of the Indi- 
ans, occasional success added vigor to their bold and cruel enterprises. 

When Colonel Taylor reached Florida, the war with the Seminoles, be- 
gan in 1835, had been prosecuted with indifferent success. General 
Jesup then had command of the army in this territory, and had made 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 237 

fruitless attempts to bring the war to a close. All friendly conferences 
with the chiefs, aided by a delegation of Cherokees as mediators, having 
failed, it was determined, in the autumn of 1837, to take more active 
measures against the Indians. Colonel Taylor received orders to seek 
out any portion of the enemy wherever to be found, and to destroy or 
capture the hostile forces. Accordingly, in pursuance of instructions 
from General Jesup, Colonel Taylor, with about 1,100 men, left Fort 
Gardner on the 20th of December, 1837, and through dense thickets of 
cypress, palmetto, and other underwood, the troops made their way to the 
everglades, where the Indians were concealed. 

After a march of five days, the troops, on the 25th of December, reached 
a cypress swamp where they had evidence that a large body of the enemy 
were near. Taylor disposed his army in order of battle, and crossing the 
swamp, reached a large prairie, on the farther side of which was 
an extensive hammock, in which the Indians were posted. The 
American troops had penetrated but a short distance, when they were sud- 
denly attacked by several hundred warriors, with their rifles. The shock 
for a time was fearlessly sustained, although several officers and men fell 
at the first fire. Seeing their leaders fall, some of the volunteers gave 
way, but soon after rallied, and the regular troops eagerly pressed on 
through the morass. Thrice the enemy wavered and gave ground, and 
thrice returned to the most desperate conflict ever maintained by their 
arms. The battle lasted for more than two hours, when the savages were 
driven from the field to their camp on the borders of Lake Okeechobee, 
being closely pursued by the regulars and volunteers until night closed in. 

This battle of Okeechobee is one of the most memorable in our annals- 
of Indian wars, as one of the most remarkable for bravery and skill on 
both sides. The American loss was very severe, 26 being killed, and 
112 wounded, among whom were some of the most valuable officers in the 
service, including Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson, Colonel Gentry, Adju- 
tant Center, Captain Van Swaringen, and others, among the slain. The 
loss of the Indians could not be ascertained, but in the opinion of Colonel 
Taylor it was about equal to that of our troops. 

The immediate consequence of the battle of Okeechobee was the sur- 
render of a number of Seminoles to the forces under the command of 
Colonel Taylor. The decisive action and dearly-bought victory of the 
Americans gave a death-blow to the power and daring defiance of the hos- 
tile tribe. Although outrages were frequently committed by small parties 
of savages, for a year or two afterward, the Seminoles were never again 
completely organized, as a tribe or nation, in opposition to the whites. 

If the triumph of Taylor failed to reduce the whole body of Indians 
immediately to terms of peace, it still demanded and received the grateful 
recognition of the nation and the government. The sentiments of the lat- 
ter were expressed in a general order from the war department, through. 



238 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

Major-General Macomb, commander-in-chief of the army, dated February 
20, 1838, tendering the thanks of the president of the United States to 
Colonel Taylor, and the officers and troops under his command, for their 
gallant conduct in the battle with the Seminole Indians on the 25th of 
December. 

This official acknowledgment was soon after followed by Taylor's pro- 
motion to the rank of brigadier-general by brevet, " for distinguished ser- 
vices in the battle of Kissimmee (Okeechobee), in Florida." 

In April, 1838, the command of the troops in Florida was assigned to 
General Taylor ; relieving General Jesup, at the request of the latter. In 
this responsible position Taylor's energies were devoted to the protection 
of the inhabitants from the attacks of the Indians, and the reduction of 
the latter to the authority of the United States. The perfect accomplish- 
ment of these objects was impracticable with the means and forces placed 
at the disposal of the commander. From time to time skirmishes with 
the Indians took place, and small parties of them were occasionally cap- 
tured, or voluntarily surrendered. But they never could be brought to a 
general action, and continued, at intervals, their outrages upon the white 
inhabitants. 

The United States government, toward the close of the year 1839, 
abandoned the policy which it had pursued in Florida, and determined to 
leave the Indians in their strongholds, and to confine the operations of 
the troops to the protection of the border settlements. In the general or- 
ders of the war department in November, 1839, the conduct of the com- 
mander was thus approved : — 

" General Taylor, by the zealous and intelligent discharge of his duties, 
having given satisfaction to the department, will continue in command." 

General Taylor's skill and energies were faithfully exerted to fulfil the 
designs of the government, but the force at his disposal was never ade- 
quate. Having labored four years in this thankless field, he was anxious 
to retire from it ; and, at his own request, was relieved from the command, 
and was succeeded by General Armistead, in April, 1840. 

The distinguished talents which General Taylor had displayed through- 
out his career in the army, were too well known and appreciated by the 
government to allow him to remain idle, or to be stationed at a post of in- 
activity. He was, therefore, immediately after leaving Florida, appointed 
to the command of the first department of the army in the southwest. This 
department included the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and 
Louisiana, his headquarters being at Fort Jesup, in the latter state. In 
the summer of 1841, he was ordered to relieve General Arbuckle, at Fort 
Gibson, where he remained nearly five years, constantly engaged in dis- 
ciplining his troops, and in other services pertaining to his command. 

Having purchased an estate in Louisiana, General Taylor removed his 
family from Kentucky to Baton Rouge, on the banks of the Mississippi, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 239 

where they continued to reside for some years. His constant occupation 
in the army gave him but few opportunities of enjoying the comforts of 
domestic retirement. 

Soon after the annexation of Texas to the United States, General 
Taylor, who was then situated at Fort Jesup, Louisiana, received a con- 
fidential letter from the secretary of war, Mr. Marcy, dated May 28, 1845, 
instructing him to place his troops at such a position as would enable him 
to defend the territory of Texas in case of invasion from Mexico. The 
Congress of the United States, on the 1st of March, 1845, had passed a 
joint resolution giving its consent that the territory belonging to the repub- 
lic of Texas might be erected into a new state, called the state of Texas ; 
subject, however, to the adjustment by this government of " all questions 
of boundary that might arise with other governments." 

The instructions of the war department to General Taylor, above re- 
ferred to, implied clearly an apprehension that the consequence of the 
annexation of Texas might be a collision with Mexico. The secretary 
stated, that as soon as the Congress of Texas should assent to the act, and 
a convention should assemble and accept the terms offered in the joint 
annexation resolutions of the Congress of the United States, Texas would 
be regarded " as part of the United States, so far as to be entitled from 
this government to a defence from foreign invasion and Indian incursions." 
General Taylor was accordingly directed to keep his command in readi- 
ness for this duty. The anticipation of difficulty with Mexico was fur- 
ther indicated by instructions to General Taylor to open a correspondence 
with the authorities of Texas, or any diplomatic agent of the United States 
residing therein, with a view to information and advice in respect to the 
common Indian enemy, as well as to any foreign power ; and also to em- 
ploy his forces in defence of the Texan territory, if invaded by a foreign 
power, and to expel the invaders. 

General Taylor w^as thus apprized of the service which might be ex- 
pected of him. In July, 1845, he was informed by the war department, 
that the acceptance by Texas of the terms of annexation w^ould probably 
be formally made by the Congress of that republic on the 4th of that 
month, and, in anticipation of that event, he was instructed to make an 
immediate forward movement with the troops under his command, and 
advance to the mouth of the Sabine, or to such other point on the gulf of 
Mexico, or its navigable waters, as might be most convenient for an em- 
barkation at the proper time, for the western frontier of Texas. 

The most expeditious route was recommended. The forces named for 
this duty were the 3d and 4th regiments of infantry, and seven companies 
of the 2d regiment of dragoons. The artillery was ordered from New 
Orleans. 

In reply to inquiries by Genera] Taylor of the war department, respect- 
ing the position he should take, he was directed, generally, to be governed 



240 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

by circumstances, to avoid all aggressive measures, and to hold his force 
ready to protect the territory of Texas " to the extent that it had been oc- 
cupied by the people of Texas." The Rio Grande was indicated, by the 
secretary, as the boundary between Mexico and Texas, to which the army 
of occupation under Taylor was to approach, as nearly as prudence would 
permit. For this purpose it was necessary to pass the river Nueces. 

On the 28th of June, Mr. Donelson, then United States minister to 
Texas, to whom General Taylor was referred for advice upon his move- 
ments, wrote him that he had best move his forces, " without delay, to 
the western frontier of Texas," and also informing him that Corpus 
Christi, on Aranzas bay (near the mouth of the Nueces), was the best 
point for the assembling of his troops. The same letter also admitted that 
the country between the Nueces and the Rio Grande was in dispute ; the 
Texans holding Corpus Christi, and the Mexicans Santiago, at the mouth 
of the Rio Grande. 

General Taylor embarked at New Orleans in July, 1845, and proceeded 
immediately with the forces under his command, 1,500 in number, to 
Aranzas bay, and in the beginning of August, 1845, had taken the posi- 
tion assigned him by the government. All the troops in the west, the 
northwest, and on the Atlantic, which could be spared, were ordered to 
join him. In November, 1845, by the report of the adjutant-general, his 
army consisted, in the aggregate, of 4,049 officers and men. 

To the terms of the joint resolution of annexation, by the Congress of 
the United States, Texas assented by her ordinance of July, 1845, and, 
having formed her constitution, became virtually a state in the American 
Union. Three days after this (July 7th) the same convention requested 
the president of the United States to occupy the ports of Texas, and send 
an army to their defence. This desire the president of the United States 
immediately complied with (or in fact had already, as has been seen, 
anticipated).* 

At the same time that instructions were sent to General Taylor by the 
war department, a naval force was despatched to the gulf of Mexico to aid 
him in any hostile operations which might occur. 

General Taylor established his headquarters at Corpus Christi, where 
the army of occupation under his command remained encamped over six 
months. On the 8th of March, 1846, agreeably to instructions from the 
president of i the United States to General Taylor, the advance of the 
army commenced its march for the Rio Grande, and the fourth day there- 
after the entire forces were moving in a southerly direction over the dis- 
puted territory — the wilderness lying between the Nueces and that river. 
At the Arroya Colorado the troops encountered a body of Mexicans, who 
seemed disposed to dispute their passage. This, however, was not 
attempted, and the Americans continued their march. While approaching 
* Mansfield's History of the Mexican War. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 241 

Point Isabel, General Taylor was met. by a deputation of citizens from 
Matamoras, on the Rio Grande, who handed him a protest, signed by the 
prefect of the district, against the occupation of the country by the Ameri- 
can army. At this moment it was discovered that the buildings at Point 
Isabel were in flames, and believing that the place had been set on fire 
by the Mexican authorities, and considering the conflagration as a decided 
evidence of hostility, General Taylor dismissed the deputation, with the 
promise of an answer when he should arrive on the banks of the Ri9 
Grande. Point Isabel, a small place with a few mean houses, had been 
selected as a depot for military stores for the American army, being the 
nearest port to Matamoras on the north. To preserve its buildings was 
therefore an object of moment, and the advance of the cavalry arrived in 
season to arrest the progress of the fire, after it had consumed but three 
or four houses. The Mexican port-captain who committed the act had 
made his escape. 

The arrangements at this post being satisfactorily made, the general, 
with the cavalry, resumed the march toward Matamoras, and was joined 
by General Worth's command, which had encamped on the road. On the 
28th of March, the army arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande, oppo- 
site Matamoras. Fortifications were immediately commenced, and soon 
a fort was erected, furnished with six bastions, and capable of containing 
two thousand men. It commanded the town of Matamoras, and was after- 
ward called Fort Brown. On the other side the Mexicans also erected 
batteries and redoubts, both parties assuming the attitude of belligerents. 
An interview was held by direction of General Taylor, with the military 
authorities in Matamoras, but with no satisfactory result. 

On the 10th of April the first American blood was shed by Mexican 
hands. Colonel Cross, deputy quartermaster-general, having rode out in 
the morning, for exercise, unattended, was killed as was supposed by 
some rancheros attached to the Mexican army ; and his body was found 
on the 20th, when it was honored, by order of General Taylor, by a mili- 
tary funeral becoming the rank and character of the colonel. 

A Mexican army having been concentrated on the Rio Grande, Gen- 
eral Ampudia was placed in command, and arrived in Matamoras on the 
1 1th of April. He had previously attempted to cause desertion among the 
soldiers of foreign birth in the American army, by issuing a circular 
addressed to them, in consequence of which some desertions, but unim- 
portant as to numbers, took place. On the r2th of April, General Ampu- 
dia addressed a letter to General Taylor, concluding as follows : — 

" By explicit and definite orders of my government, which neither can, 
will, nor should, receive new outrages, I require you in all form, and at 
latest in the peremptory term of twenty-four hours, to break up your camp, 
and retire to the other bank of the Nueces river, while our governments 
are regulating the pending question in relation to Texas. If you insist 
16 



242 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

on remaining upon the soil of the department of Tamaulipas, it will clearly 
result that arms, and arms alone, must decide the question ; and in that 
case I advise you that we accept the war to which, with so much injus- 
tice on your part, you provoke us ; and that, on our part, this war shall be 
conducted conformably to the principles established by the most civilized 
nations ; that is to say, that the law of nations and of war shall be the 
guide of my operations ; trusting that on your part the same will be ob- 
served." 

In his reply to this letter from General Ampudia, General Taylor in- 
formed the Mexican commander that, charged as he was in only a milita- 
ry capacity with the performance of specific duties, he could not enter in- 
to a discussion of the international question involved in the advance of 
the American arms, but reminded him that the government of the United 
States had constantly sought a settlement by negotiation of the question 
of boundary. He concludes his letter as follows : — 

" The instructions under which I am acting will not permit me to ret- 
rograde from the position I now occupy. In view of the relations be- 
tween our respective governments, and the individual suffering which 
may result, I regret the alternative which you offer ; but, at the same 
time, wish it understood, that I shall by no means avoid such alternative, 
leaving the responsibility with those who rashly commence hostilities. 
In conclusion, you vvill permit me to give the assurance that, on my part, 
the laws and customs of war among civilized nations, shall be carefully 
observed." 

To confirm these declarations. General Taylor continued to fortify his 
camp, and to make every disposition to resist an attack. General Am- 
pudia soon gave place, as commanding officer at Matamoras, to General 
Arista, commander-in-chief of the northern division of the Mexican ar- 
my. The reported accession to its force also created new expectations ia 
the American camp that a decisive demonstration would soon be made 
against it. On the 19th of April, it was reported to General Taylor that 
two vessels with supplies for the Mexicans in Matamoras, were at the 
mouth of the Rio Grande. He immediately ordered a blockade of the 
river and enforced it by placing the United States brig Lawrence and a 
revenue-cutter to guard its mouth, To this act the Mexican general took 
umbrage, and having sent a note of remonstrance to General Taylor, and 
the answer of the American commander being unsatisfactory, the Mexi- 
cans prepared to make an attack upon Fort Brown. 

In the meantime it was evident that Point Isabel was marked out by 
the Mexican commander as a place of contemplated attack, and it was ru- 
mored that a large Mexican force was crossing the Rio Grande for that 
purpose. To ascertain the truth of these reports. General Taylor sent 
out a scouting party under Captain Thornton, up the river, and a squadron 
.of dragoons under Captain Ker, down the river. The former were sur- 



I 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 243 

prised by a party of Mexicans, sixteen were killed and wounded, and the 
remainder nearly all were taken prisoners. Lieutenant Mason was killed 
in the affray. Captain Thornton, at first escaping by an extraordinary 
leap of his horse over a hedge, was afterward captured and taken to 
Matamoras, where he remained for some time, but was finally given up. 
Captain Ker, with his detachment, after reconnoitring the country, return- 
ed, without having fallen in with the Mexicans. Three days after this 
affair, several of Captain Walker's Texan rangers were killed and 
wounded. 

General Taylor, having received by the hands of Captain Walker of 
the Texan rangers information from Major Munroe, the commander at 
Point Isabel, of the attack of a party of Mexicans upon a wagon train, 
and from other causes being anxious for the safety of Point Isabel, where 
all the supplies for his army were deposited, resolved to march with his 
forces to the relief of that post. He left at Fort Brown a sufficient force 
of infantry and artillery to sustain a bombardment. He had previously 
sent a despatch to the governors of Louisiana and Texas, asking an im- 
mediate reinforcement of four regiments of militia from each state. 

The plan of Arista, the Mexican general, it was believed, was to cross 
the Rio Grande, get in the rear of General Taylor's army, capture Point 
Isabel, and then fall on the American army. This plan was only pre- 
vented from being carried out by accidental information, brought to Gen- 
eral Taylor by one of Thornton's party, sent in by the Mexican com- 
mander. The rapid return of the army under General Taylor to Point 
Isabel, was a consequence of this information, and the additional fact that 
the enemy was preparing to cross the river below. Either the Mexican 
army was dilatory in its movement, or the body detailed to cross below 
was unable to form a junction, for the forces of General Taylor, com- 
mencing their march from Fort Brown on the first of May, reached the 
depot at Point Isabel the following day, without encountering the enemy. 

The Mexican general supposed that the movement of the Americans 
was a retreat, and at once ordered a large body of his troops across the 
Rio Grande. On the 3d of May, a heavy bombardment was commenced 
from the batteries in Matamoras on Fort Brown, where a garrison was 
left by General Taylor. During the night of the 4th, the Mexicans also 
erected a battery in the rear of Fort Brown, and the next morning opened 
a fire upon the fort simultaneously with the batteries on the opposite bank 
of the river. The bombardment was continued at intervals until the 10th, 
when the gallant defenders of the fort were relieved by the return of the 
main army under General Taylor, which had just fought the battles of 
Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. In the defence of the fort. Major 
Brown, Captain Hawkins, and Captain Mansfield, were greatly distin- 
guished for skill and gallantry. The former was killed by a shell, and 
was succeeded in command by Captain Hawkins. 



244 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

General Taylor, having garrisoned the depot at Point Isabel with new 
troops, commenced his return to Fort Brown on the 7th of May, at the 
head of two thousand, three hundred men, and a supply-train of three 
hundred wagons. The army encamped at night about seven miles from 
Point Isabel, and resumed their march on the following morning, the 8th 
of May. At noon, the Mexican forces were observed, drawn up in battle 
array, upon a prairie three miles from Palo Alto. General Taylor imme- 
diately prepared for action, and at two o'clock in the afternoon, gave or- 
ders to advance. The Mexican cannon opened upon them, when the 
American troops were deployed into line, and the light artillery under the 
command of Major Ringgold poured forth its rapid and deadly fire upon 
the enemy. The Mexican cavalry, mostly lancers, were on their left, 
and were forced back by the destructive discharges of artillery. On the. 
left wing of the American army, attacks of the Mexicans were met by 
Duncan's battery, and by other troops of that division. The combat on 
the American side was chiefly carried on by artillery ; and never was 
there a more complete demonstration of the superior skill and energy of 
that arm of service, as conducted by the accomplished graduates of West 
Point. He who was the life and leader of the light artillery — Major 
Ringgold — was in this engagement mortally wounded, and died in a few 
days.* 

The battle, which lasted about five hours, terminated with the posses- 
sion by the Americans of the field, and the retreat during the night of the 
Mexicans. The strength of the Mexicans was estimated by General 
Taylor at about six thousand men, with seven pieces of artillery and 
eight hundred cavalry. Their loss was at least two hundred killed and 
four hundred wounded ; that of the Americans was nine killed and forty- 
four wounded. 

General Taylor with his troops encamped on the field of battle, and re- 
sumed his march at two, P. M., the following day. In two hours the ar- 
my came in sight of the Mexicans, who had taken a position on a ravine 
called Resaca de la Palma. They had formed a battery so as to sweep 
the road, and were otherwise strongly posted. The action commenced 
by the fire of the Mexican artillery, which the Americans returned by 
discharges from Ridgely's battery, and by the infantry on the wings. In 
this firing the Mexican cannon were well managed by Generals La Vega 
and Reguena, and the effect was severely felt in the American lines. It 
was necessary to dislodge them, and this duty was assigned by General 
Taylor to Captain May of the dragoons. It was here that this officer be- 
came so distinguished by his gallant charge upon the enemy's batteries. 
The artillerymen were dispersed and General La Vega taken prisoner. 
The regiments of infantry now charged the Mexican line and the battle 
was soon ended. Their columns were broken by successive charges and 
* Mansfield's HLstoi-)- of the War. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 245 

unable to bear the continued fire poured upon them by the American in- 
fantry and artillery. The Mexicans fled from the field, rapidly pursued 
by the Americans, and ceased not their flight till those who were not ta- 
ken prisoners had either crossed the Rio Grande or were drowned in its 
waters. The enemy's loss in this engagement was very great ; nearly 
two hundred of their dead were buried by the Americans the day after 
the battle. Their loss in killed, wounded, and missing, in the two affairs 
of the 8th and 9th, was estimated by General Taylor at one thousand 
men. The loss of the Americans was thirty-nine killed and eighty-three 
wounded, in the last battle. The actual number of American troops en- 
gaged with the enemy, on the 9th, did not exceed seventeen hundred, 
while that of the Mexican army, which had been reinforced after the ac- 
tion of the 8th, was estimated at six thousand. 

In a detailed report of these battles. General Taylor remarked : " Our 
victory has been decisive. A small force has overcome immense odds 
of the best troops that Mexico can furnish — veteran regiments, perfectly 
equipped and appointed. Eight pieces of artillery, several colors and 
standards, a great number of prisoners, including fourteen officers, and a 
large amount of baggage and public property, have fallen into our hands. 
The causes of victory are doubtless to be found in the superior quality of 
our officers and men." 

In these engagements. General Taylor displayed the utmost coolness 
and bravery • — exposing himself in the most dangerous positions, and en- 
couraging the troops by his heroic example. After the battles, his atten- 
iion to the wounded and the dying, whether friend or foe, evinced that 
sympathy with suffering humanity which is ever inseparable from true 
courage.* 

The intelligence of hostilities on the Rio Grande, occasioned a power- 
ful excitement in the United States. Congress was then in session, and 
the president, on the receipt of the news of the capture of Captain Thorn- 
ton's party, immediately sent in his special message of May J 1, 1846, in 
which he declared that the Mexican government, had " at last invaded our 
territory, and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil." Con- 
gress with less than two days' deliberation, on the 13th of May, declared 
that " by the act of the republic of Mexico, war exists between that gov- 
ernment and the United States ;" and at the same time passed a law 
authorizing the president to accept the services of fifty thousand volun- 
teers, and appropriating ten millions of dollars toward carrying on the war. 
The intention was to put an end to the war by a vigorous effort, and deci- 
sive victories. 

Four days before this declaration by Congress, as we have seen, the 
decisive battle of Resaca de la Palma had been fought, and the army of 
Arista pursued beyond the Rio Grande. The Mexican general saved 

* Mansfield. 



246 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

himself by flight, and quite unattenrled, he made his way across the river. 
General La Vega and a few other officers were sent on parole to New 
Orleans. 

On the 11th of May, General Taylor leaving Colonel Twiggs in com- 
mand of his array, repaired to Point Isabel, for the purpose of arranging 
with Commodore Connor of the gulf squadron, a combined attack on Mat- 
amoras. At Point Isabel a command of regulars and volunteers just 
arrived from Louisiana and Alabama, was organized under Colonel Wil- 
son ; and on the 15th, marched for Brazos, and with the aid of the squad- 
ron, crossed the river at its mouth, and marched upon the town, which the 
colonel occupied on the 17th of May ; being the first landing of an Amer- 
ican force on the right bank of the Rio Grande. The day before this expe- 
dition left Point Isabel, General Taylor also set out on his return to the 
camp on the river, where he speedily arrived, and at once commenced prepa- 
rations for an attack on Matamoras. On the 17th of May, Arista sent a 
deputation to Taylor to ask for an armistice, until the two governments 
should settle the difficulties pending. This was refused by the American 
general, as it was apparent that time was only wanted to remove the mu- 
nitions of war from Matamoras. But during the conference, Arista suc- 
ceeded in taking away part of the military stores, and with the fragment of 
his army he abandoned Matamoras, and fled precipitately toward Monterey. 
On the 18th of May, General Taylor with his army, crossed the Rio 
Grande, and entered Matamoras without opposition. Formal possession 
was taken of the city, and Colonel Twiggs appointed military governor. 
The day following, Lieutenant-Colonel Garland, with the cavalry of the 
army, was sent in pursuit of the Mexicans under Arista, but being igno- 
rant of the country, which they found so barren as to affiard insufficient 
support to the horses, the American troops were forced to return, after pur- 
suing the flying enemy about sixty miles. 

From May until September, General Taylor remained in camp with his 
army at Matamoras, awaiting the orders of his government, receiving re- 
inforcements, and making preparations for marching into the interior. 
His operations were paralyzed during the summer, by the want of suita- 
ble boats to navigate the Rio Grande. In the meantime, the executive 
and Congress had highly approved of his course, and on the 30th of May, 
the president transmitted to him a commission as major-general by bre- 
vet, bearing the date of the battle of the 9th of May. On the 29ih of 
June, he was promoted to the full rank of major-general. 

On the day that General Taylor entered Matamoras, a United States 
squadron arrived off" Vera Cruz, and commenced the blockade of that and 
other ports on the gulf of Mexico ; and during the summer the towns of 
Mier, Camargo, Revilla, and Reynosa, submitted to the Americans, and 
became stations for different divisions of the army. Camargo, a town 
about one hundred and eighty miles above the mouth of the Rio Grande, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 247, 

was the point selected as the depot of supplies. Here the various divis- 
ions which were to compose the particular army of General Taylor were 
gradually concentrated. 

The reinforcements and supplies for the American army in Mexico 
which had been forwarded during the summer were at length sufficient to 
justify an advance into the interior. The Rio Grande was assumed as 
the military base line of operations. The entire army of General Tay- 
lor consisted of about nine thousand men. A small portion was assigned 
to garrisons, while the main body, numbering six thousand, six hundred, 
was destined for Monterey, the capital city of New Leon, and of the 
northern division of Mexico. The city contained about fifteen thousand 
inhabitants and is situated on a branch of the San Juan river, near the 
base of the Sierra Madre mountains. Both the natural and artificial de- 
fences of Monterey were very strong ; but neither the extent of the de- 
fences, nor the number of the garrisons within them, seem to have been 
fully known to the American army previous to its arrival in front of the 
city. 

The army under Taylor was in three divisions commanded respectively 
by Brigadier-Generals Twiggs (who had been promoted to that station) 
and Worth, and Major-General Butler. On the 20th of August, General 
Worth began his march for Monterey ; and on the 5th of September, 
General Taylor left Camargo ; a garrison of two thousand men remain- 
ing behind. Worth reached Ceralvo, about seventy miles, on the 25th of 
August, and at that point sent out reconnoitring parties who discovered 
strong bodies of the enemy in front. He advanced to the village of Ma- 
rin, where the entire army was in a few days concentrated, under the 
command of General Taylor. On the 19th of September, the army ar- 
rived at Walnut Springs, three miles from Monterey, after a few skirmishes 
only with parties of Mexican cavalry. 

Monterey was then under the command of General Ampudia, and the 
garrison under his command consisted of about seven thousand regular 
troops, and two or three thousand irregular troops. Notwithstanding this 
strong garrison, superior in numbers to the American army. General Taylor 
thought it possible to carry the place by storm, with the bayonet and artille- 
ry. Reconnoisances of the works were made on the evening of the 19th.* 

Besides the numerous and well-constructed fortresses mounted with 
heavy camion, which had been erected for the defence of Monterey ; the 
plan of the city itself is well adapted to defensive warfare. The streets 
being straight, a few pieces of artillery can command their entire length. 
The stone walls of the houses rise above the roofs, thus forming regular 
parapets which afford thorough protection to the defenders. Each dwel- 
ling is thus a separate castle, and the whole city one grand fortification,, 
suggested by nature and consummated by art. 

* Mansfield 



248 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

On the night of the 20th of September, General Worth's advanced col- 
umns marched and occupied for the night a defensive position on the Sal- 
tillo road, just without the range of the enemy's batteries. The attack 
commenced on the 21st, by General Worth's forces, and continued, in 
connexion with other divisions of the army, all the next day. On the 23d, 
the assault became general, and a desperate conflict ensued in the streets 
of the city. From the strong stone houses, volleys of musketry dealt 
death in all directions among the American troops, but they steadily ad- 
vanced from house to house, and from square to square, until the main 
body of the enemy had retired from the lower part of the city, to make a 
stand behind their barricades. 

General Taylor then withdrew his troops to the works which had been 
evacuated by the Mexicans, and determined to concert with General 
Worth a combined attack upon the town the following day. But early in 
the morning of the 24th, General Ampudia sent a communication to ihe 
American commander, proposing to evacuate the town. General Taylor 
acceded to a personal interview with General Ampudia, as the latter had 
desired, and it was finally agreed that the city should be surrendered to 
General Taylor, and the material of war, with certain exceptions, and the 
Mexican troops were allowed to evacuate the following day. As soon as 
they had left, the division under General Worth was quartered in the city, 
and quiet reigned among the inhabitants. The American troops during 
the various contests at Monterey, had twelve officers and one hundred and 
eight men killed ; thirty-one officers, and three hundred and thirty-seven 
wounded. The Mexican loss was not known, but believed considerably 
to exceed these numbers. The force under General Taylor at this siege 
was four hundred and twenty-five officers, and six thousand, two hundred 
and twenty men, accompanied with nineteen cannon. The town and works 
were armed with forty-two pieces of cannon well supplied with ammunition, 
and manned, as before stated, with a force of nearly ten thousand men. 

In the transactions attending the capture of the city, General Taylor 
had hoped to secure the approbation of government. In this, however, 
he was disappointed. Not only were the terms of capitulation consider- 
ed as entirely too lenient, but he was even blamed for not having carried 
the defences by assault, and thus making the garrison unconditional pris- 
oners. Time, however, has shown, that by such a course, his little army 
would have endured appalling loss, without corresponding advantages ; 
and that General Taylor's course, dictated as it was by humanity and 
honor, was the most advantageous to his troops and to the country that 
he could possibly have adopted. 

General Taylor now established his headquarters at Monterey, despatch- 
ing General Worth, on the 12th of November, with twelve hundred men 
and eight pieces of artillery, to Saltillo ; and General Wool, who was on 
his march from Texas, toward Chihuahua, was directed by Taylor, in 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 249 

November, to abandon the expedition, and advance witli his coUiinn of 
two thousand and four hundred men to Parras, a place south of Saltillo. 
Here the army of General Wool remained for a short time until, in the 
month of December, it joined the division of Worth at Saltillo. 

On the 13th of November, General Taylor followed General Worth's 
division to Saltillo, escorted by two squadrons of dragoons. This town 
is the capital of the state of Coahuila, and is distant sixty-five miles south- 
west from Monterey. It was considered by Taylor as an important point 
for occupation, for three reasons : first, as a necessary outpost of the main 
force at Monterey, covering as it does the defile which leads from the low 
country to the table land, and also the route to Monclova ; secondly, as 
controlling a region from which to obtain supplies of provisions, viz., the 
fertile country around Parras ; thirdly, as the capital of Coahuila, which 
renders it important in a political point of view. 

General Taylor represented to the war department the difficulties to be 
encountered in a forward movement upon the city of San Luis Potosi, 
and with regard to a proposed expedition against Vera Cruz, he gave it as 
his opinion that twenty-five thousand troops would be properly required to 
take possession of Vera Cruz, and march thence against the city of Mex- 
ico. He proposed to proceed with the preparation for a movement on 
Tampico, if approved by the department, but his designs were not carried 
into efl^ect. A movement against San Luis, he remarked, should not be 
undertaken except with a force so large as to render success certain. 
That force he considered should be at least 20,000 strong, as he supposed 
the Mexicans able to concentrate a force of 40,000 to 50,000 men at San 
Luis, which is a city of about 60,000 inhabitants, distant three hundred 
miles from Saltillo, nearly six hundred miles from the Rio Grande, and 
five hundred from the city of Mexico. 

Having made arrangements for the occupation of the slate of Coahuila, 
and left with General Worth at Saltillo a squadron of dragoons. General 
Taylor returned to Monterey, where, on the 25th of November, he learned 
officially of the occupation of Tampico by the naval forces under Commo- 
dore Perry. On the requisition of the commodore, with the approval of 
General Taylor, a regiment and six companies from Taylor's array were 
ordered to Tampico to garrison that town. 

On the 15th of December, General Taylor left Monterey for Victoria, 
the capital of Tamaulipas, which place he designed to occupy, and con- 
centrate there a portion of his army. On his way thither he received 
information from General Worth at Saltillo, that Santa Anna, then in com- 
mand of the Mexican army at San Luis, designed taking advantage of 
the diversion of force toward Victoria, by a rapid movement, strike a 
heavy blow at the American troops at Saltillo, and, if successful, another 
at General Wool's force at Parras. General Taylor, therefore, thought 
proper to return to Monterey with the regular forces, and thus be in a posi- 



250 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR, 

tion to reinforce Saltillo, if necessary. The volunteers under General 
Quitman "were ordered to continue their march and effect a junction with 
General Patterson, at Victoria. At the same time, Generals Butler and 
Wool moved rapidly from Monterey and Parras to join General Worth, 
who had advised them of a probable attack on his position. General Tay- 
lor had proceeded beyond Monterey, on his way to Saltillo, when, on the 
20th of December, he received information that the expected concentra- 
tion and movement of the Mexican troops upon Saltillo had not taken 
place. Deeming the force present and sent forward to that place suffi- 
cient to repel any demonstration from San Luis Potosi, General Taylor 
again marched with General Twiggs's division toward Victoria. 

On the 29th of December, General Quitman entered Victoria without 
opposition. The enemy had a body of 1,500 cavalry in the town, which 
fell back as the Americans approached. General Taylor arrived there 
with the troops of General Twiggs on the 4th of January, and was joined 
on the same day by the force which General Patterson conducted from 
Matamoras. The force collected at Victoria was over 5,000 strong. 

While General Taylor was thus maturing his operations, the American 
government had determined to concentrate the largest possible number of 
regulars and experienced volunteers in the attack upon Vera Cruz, and 
the march thence to the city of Mexico. General Scott was charged 
with the command of the expedition, and immediately took measures to 
secure its success. On the 25th of November, General Scott wrote Gen- 
eral Taylor from New York, informing him that he expected to be on the 
Rio Grande about the 20th of December, on his way to carry out the ob- 
ject of an expedition, the particulars of which, as despatches had been 
lost, he did not deem it prudent to communicate. " I shall be obliged," he 
says, " to take from you most of the gallant officers and men (regulars and 
volunteers) whom you have so long and so nobly commanded. I am 
afraid that I shall, by imperious necessity — the approach of yellow fever 
on the gulf coast — reduce you, for a time, to stand on the defensive. This 
will be infinitely painful to you, and for that reason distressing to me. But 
I rely upon your patriotism to submit to the temporary sacrifice with 
cheerfulness." 

In consequence of the plan thus declared, the regular troops (with the 
exception of a very small body of the troops which composed his army in 
the month of November), the division of General Worth at Saltillo, of 
General Patterson at Victoria, the brigades of Generals Quitman and 
Twiggs at the same place, and all other corps which could possibly be 
drawn from the field of operations, of which the Rio Grande was the base, 
were ordered to Vera Cruz. To maintain his position at Saltillo, General 
Taylor was left with about five thousand men, only five hundred being 
regulars. On parting with the troops who had so faithfully served wiih 
him, he issued an order expressing his deep sensibility and atiachmcut 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 251 

toward them, and his deep regret that he could not participate with those 
who were making their first campaign in its eventful scenes. To all, both 
officers and men, he extended " his heartfelt wishes for their continued 
success and happiness, confident that their achievements on another thea- 
tre would redound to the credit of their country and its arms." 

In January, 1847, General Taylor left Victoria, and established his 
headquarters at Monterey, where, early in February, his force, including 
recent reinforcements of volunteers, amounted to between 6,000 and 7,000 
men. Soon after reaching Monterey he received information that a party 
of dragoons had been surprised at Encarnacion, also that another parly, 
with Captain Cassius M. Clay and Majors Borland and Gaines were 
taken prisoners. 

While the United States were preparing to attack Vera Cruz, and en- 
deavoring to maintain the positions gained by the northern divisions of the 
army, under Generals Taylor, Wool, and Kearny, Mexico was also pre- 
paring for a decisive blow. In December, the Mexican Congress assem- 
bled at the capital. Santa Anna was elected provisional president, and 
Gomez Farias vice president, of the republic. The command of the army 
was undertaken by Santa Anna personally, he having recently returned to 
Mexico from exile at Havana, and devoted himself with zeal to restore 
domestic order, to unite parties, to devise measures of finance, and to raise 
and equip troops. Notwithstanding every embarrassment, Santa Anna 
had concentrated at San Luis Potosi, before the end of January, 1847, an 
army of more than 21,000 men, prepared to march thence against the 
divisions of General Taylor's force between Saltillo and the Rio Grande. 
On the first of February the Mexican army was moving rapidly upon that 
town, upward of three hundred miles distant from San Luis. The march 
was arduous, from the great distance over a desert, want of water and 
provisions, and from the severity of the weather. On the 20th of Febru- 
ary they reached Encarnacion, and the next day advanced on Saltillo.* 

The army of Santa Anna was admirably equipped. It was composed 
of the flower of the Mexican nation, and numbered more than four to one 
of the army which it came to conquer. Hope and dire necessity both 
urged them to victory. The commander, Santa Anna, had well consid- 
ered the advantages he would derive from this movement, if successful, 
and all the chances were in his favor. Could he have driven General 
Taylor from his position at Buena Vista, he would have swept down to 
Camargo, and over the whole valley of the Rio Grande. All the muni- 
tions of war of the Americans would have fallen into his hands. If de- 
feated, Santa Anna well knew that his moral power over his army would 
be broken. The fate of his country seemed suspended on the issue of a 
single battle. His own fame, his place in history, were both to be deci- 
ded in the coming conflict.! 

* Fry's Life of Taylor. t Mansfield. 



252 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

General Wool had continued in command of the division of the Amer- 
ican army at Sallillo. Near the end of January, he advised General 
Taylor of the rumored advance of Santa Anna, then organizing his forces 
at San Luis, as has been mentioned. In consequence of this informa- 
tion, although at that lime indefinite. General Taylor determined at once 
to meet the enemy, if opportunity should be offered ; and leaving a garri- 
son of fifteen hundred men at Monterey, he took up his line of march on 
the 31st with a reinforcement for the column of General Wool. On the 
2d of February, he reached Saltillo, and on the 4th he advanced to Agua 
Nueva, a strong position on the San Luis road, twenty miles south of Saltil- 
lo. Here he encamped until the 21st, when he received intelligence that 
Santa Anna was advancing with his whole army. Having carefully ex- 
amined the various positions and defiles of the mountains, Taylor decided 
that Buena Vista, a strong mountain pass, eleven miles nearer Sallillo, was 
the most favorable point to make a stand against a force so overwhelming. 
He therefore fell back to that place, and at noon of the 21st, encamped to 
await the approach of Santa Anna, then within one day's march of this 
position. 

The position of the American army at this moment was most critical. 
The regular troops had been withdrawn, with the exception of a few com- 
panies of artillery and dragoons. The volunteers, of which the army 
was mainly composed, had received some instruction in the regular duties 
of the camp, but had not attained that perfection in discipline which gives 
confidence in military operations.* 

The position selected by General Taylor to receive with his small ar- 
my, the forces of the Mexican chief — five times the number of the Amer- 
icans — was one of remarkable natural strength. It was at a point where 
the main road from San Luis to Sallillo, passes between closely-approxi- 
mating chains of mountains. The bases of these mountains are cut, by 
the occasional torrents of rain, into numerous deep gullies, almost impas- 
sable, owing to the rugged and steep banks leaving between them elevated 
table-lands or plateaus, of various extent. On the west of the road, and 
nearly parallel to it, between Agua Nueva and Buena Vista, is also a ditch, 
forming one of the mountain drains on that side. The American army 
was drawn up at nearly right angles to the road, its chief force being on 
the east of it, occupying a large plateau commanding the mountain side. 
Facing the south, this force constituted the left wing. A battery of light 
artillery occupied the road, and the right wing rested on the opposite hill. 
In this attitude, the Americans awaited the advance of the Mexicans, on 
the morning of the 22d of February, the birthday of Washington. 

On the 21st, General Taylor had proceeded with a small force to Sal- 
tillo (nine miles from Buena Vista), to make some arrangements for the 
defence of the town, leaving General Wool in command of the troops. 

* Mansfield. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 253 

Before those arrangements at Saltillo were completed, on the morning of 
the 22d, Taylor was advised that the enemy was in sight, advancing. 
Hastening to the battle-field, he found that the Mexican cavalry advance 
was in front, having marched from Encarnacion, over forty miles distant, 
at eleven o'clock on the day previous, and driving in an American mounted 
force left at Agua Nueva, to cover the removal of public stores. 

The features of the ground occupied by the American troops were such 
as nearly to paralyze the artillery and cavalry of the Mexicans, while their 
infantry could not derive all the advantages of its numerical superiority. 
At eleven o'clock, General Taylor received from General Santa Anna, a 
summons to surrender at discretion, to which the American commander 
immediately replied, " declining to accede to the request." The enemy 
still forbore his attack, evidently waiting for the arrival of his rear col- 
umns. The Mexican light troops commenced the action by engaging the 
Americans on the extreme left, and kept up a sharp fire, climbing the 
mountain-side, and apparently endeavoring to gain the flank of the Amer- 
icans. The skirmishing of the light troops was kept up until dark; when 
General Taylor became convinced that no serious attack would be made 
before morning, and returned, with a regiment and squadron of dragoons, 
to Saltillo. The troops bivouacked without fires, and laid upon their arms. 
A body of fifteen hundred Mexican cavalry under General Minon, had en- 
tered the valley through a narrow pass east of Saltillo, and had evidently 
been thrown in the rear of the Americans, to break up and harass the re- 
treat which was so confidently expected by Santa Anna. 

Having made the necessary dispositions for the protection of the rear, 
General Taylor returned to Buena Vista, on the morning of the 23d, order- 
ing forward all the available troops from Saltillo. The action had com- 
menced before his arrival on the field. 

During the night of the 22d, the Mexicans had thrown a body of light 
troops on the mountain-side, with the purpose of outflanking the left of the 
Americans ; and it was here that the action of the 23d, commenced at an 
early hour. The American riflemen in this position maintained their 
ground handsomely against a greatly superior force. About eight o'clock, a 
strong demonstration was made against the American centre, a heavy Mexi- 
can column moving along the road ; which was soon dispersed by the fire 
from Captain Washington's battery. In the meantime, a large force of 
Mexican infantry and cavalry was concentrated under cover of the ridges, 
with the obvious intention of forcing the left of the Americans. It was 
found impossible to check the advance of the Mexican infantry, although 
the American artillery was served against it with great efl^ect, under the or- 
ders of Captain O'Brien. When General Taylor arrived upon the field, 
the left wing of his army had become completely outflanked, and the enemy 
was pouring masses of infantry and cavalry along the base of the mountain ; 
thus gaining the rear of the Americans in great force. Taylor immediately 



254 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

directed the left to be strengthened by detachments of Captains Bragg and 
Sherman's artillery, also by bodies of cavalry. The action was for a long 
time warmly sustained at that point, the enemy making efforts both with in- 
fantry and cavalry, against the American line, and being always repulsed 
with heavy loss. 

At one period, the position of that portion of the Mexican army which 
had gained the rear of the Americans was very critical, and it seemed 
doubtful whether it could regain the main body. At that moment. Gen- 
eral Taylor received from General Santa Anna a message by a staff-officer, 
desiring to know what he wanted. Taylor despatched General Wool to the 
Mexican commander, and ordered his own troops to cease firing. Gen- 
eral Wool could not, however, cause the Mexicans to cease their fire, and 
returned, without having an interview with Santa Anna. The extreme 
right of the Mexicans retreated along the base of the mountain, and final- 
ly, in spite of the efforts of the Americans, effected a junction with the 
remainder of the army. 

During the day, the Mexican cavalry under General Minon, had ascend- 
ed the elevated plain above Saltillo, and occupied the road from that city 
to the field of battle. Several skirmishes took place between them and 
the small bodies of troops left by General Taylor to protect his rear. 
General Minon made one or two efforts with his cavalry to charge the 
artillery, but this body of Mexicans were finally driven back in a con- 
fused mass, and did not again appear upon the plain. 

In the meantime the firing had partially ceased upon the principal field, 
at Buena Vista. The enemy seemed to confine his efforts to the protec- 
tion of his artillery, and General Taylor had left the plateau for a mo- 
ment, when he was recalled thither by a heavy musketry fire. He then 
discovered that a portion of his infantry, the Illinois and Kentucky volun- 
teers, had engaged a greatly superior force of the enemy — evidently his 
reserve — and that they had been overwhelmed by numbers. The mo- 
ment was most critical. Captain O'Brien had lost his two pieces of ar- 
tillery, which had been taken by the Mexicans — his infantry support be- 
ing entirely routed. Captain Bragg, who had just arrived from the left, 
was ordered at once into battery, without any infantry to support him, and 
at the imminent risk of losing his guns, this officer came rapidly into ac- 
tion, the Mexican line being but a few yards from the muzzle of his pieces. 
The first discharge of canister caused the enemy to hesitate, the second 
and third drove him back in disorder, and saved the day. The second 
Kentucky regiment, which had advanced beyond supporting distance in 
this affair, was driven back and closely pressed by the enemy's cavalry. Ta- 
king a ravine which led in the direction of Captain Washington's battery, their 
pursuers became exposed to his fire, which soon checked and drove them 
back with loss. In the meantime, the rest of the American artillery had 
taken position on the plateau, covered by the Mississippi and third Indi- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 255 

ana regiments, the former of which had reached the ground in time to 
pour a fire into the right flank of the enemy, and thus contribute to his re- 
pulse. In this last conflict the Americans sustained a very heavy loss. 
Colonel Hardin of Illinois, and Colonels M'Kee and Clay of Kentucky, 
fell at this time, while gallantly leading their commands. Colonel Yell of 
Arkansas, and Adjutant Vaughan of Kentucky, had previously fallen. 

No further attempt was made by the Mexicans to force the position of 
the Americans, and the approach of night gave an opportunity to pay prop- 
er attention to the wounded, and also to refresh the soldiers, who had been 
exhausted by incessant watchfulness and combat. Though the night was 
severely cold, the troops were compelled for the most part, to bivouack 
without fires, expecting that morning would renew the conflict. During 
the night the wounded were removed to Saltillo, and every preparation 
made to receive the enemy, should he again attack the American position. 
Seven fresh companies were drawn from the town, and Brigadier-General 
Marshall, with a reinforcement of Kentucky cavalry, and four pieces of 
artillery, was near at hand, when it was discovered that the enemy had 
abandoned his position during the night. Scouts soon ascertained that 
the Mexican army had fallen back upon Agua Nueva. The great dispar- 
ity of numbers, and the exhaustion of Taylor's troops, rendered it inexpe- 
dient and hazardous to attempt pursuit. A staff officer was despatched to 
General Santa Anna to negotiate an exchange of prisoners, which was 
satisfactorily completed on the following day. The Americans collected 
and buried their own dead, and the Mexican wounded, of which a large 
number had been left upon the field, were removed to Saltillo, and ren- 
dered as comfortable as circumstances would permit.* 

On the evening of the 26th it was ascertained that, excepting a small 
body of cavalry left at Agua Nueva, the Mexican army had retreated in 
the direction of San Luis Potosi. On the 27th, General Taylor advanced 
with his troops and resumed his former camp at Agua Nueva, the Mex- 
ican rear guard evacuating the place as the Americans approached, leaving 
a considerable number of wounded behind. It was Taylor's purpose to 
beat up the enemy's quarters at Encarnacion early the next morning, but 
upon examination, the weak condition of the cavalry horses rendered it 
unadvisable to attempt so long a march without water. Colonel Belknap, 
with a detachment of troops, was despatched to Encarnacion on the 1st of 
March. Some two hundred wounded and about sixty Mexican soldiers 
were found there, the army of Santa Anna, having passed on in the direc- 
tion of Matehula, with greatly reduced numbers, and suffering much from 
hunger. The dead and dying were strewed upon the road, and crowded 
the buildings of the hacienda. 

The American loss at the battle of Buena Vista, was 267 killed, 456 
wounded, and 23 missing ; that of the Mexicans in killed and wounded 

* General Taylor's official despatch. 



256 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

was estimated by General Taylor, and admitted by Santa Anna, to exceed 
1500. At least 500 of their killed were left upon the field of battle. The 
loss of the Americans was especially severe in officers — 28 having been 
killed upon the field, and 41 wounded. 

In a private letter to General E. G. W. Butler, General Taylor referred 
to certain incidents of the battle. Among other remarks he says : " For 
several hours the fate of the day was extremely doubtful ; so much so, that 
I was urged by some of the most experienced officers to fall back and take 
a new position. This I knew it would never do to attempt with volun- 
teers, and at once declined it. Between the several deep ravines, there 
were portions of level land from one to four hundred yards in extent, 
which became alternately points of attack and defence, after our left was 
turned, by both sides. These extended along and near the base of the 
mountain for about two miles, and the struggle for them may be very ap- 
propriately compared to a game of chess. Night put a stop to the con- 
test, and, strange to say, both armies occupied the same positions they did 
in the morning before the battle commenced. Our artillery did more than 
wonders, 

" We lay on our arms all night, as we had done the two preceding ones, 
without fires, ready and expecting to renew the contest the next morning ; 
but we found at daylight the enemy had retreated during the night. 

" I hope the greater portion of the good people of the country will be 
satisfied with what we have done on this occasion. I flatter myself that 
our compelling a Mexican army of more than twenty thousand men, com- 
pletely organized, and led by their chief magistrate, to retreat, with less 
than five hundred regulars, and about four thousand volunteers, will meet 
their approval. I had not a single company of regular infantr}^ ; the 
whole was taken from me." 

The news of the victory of Buena Vista was received in the United 
States as the crowning evidence of Taylor's generalship. He had as- 
sumed the responsibility of holding his position beyond Monterey. Know- 
ing his resources and trusting in his officers and troops, he hesitated not 
to risk everything on the field against the host of Santa Anna. He has 
himself done justice to the brilliant part which General Wool bore in the 
action, approving all the preliminary dispositions of that able commander. 
He has also borne testimony to the services of all others who took part 
in the action, and expressed his sympathies with the friends of those who 
had fallen. It was the province of the nation, in return, to acknowl- 
edge the surpassing merit of the commander-in-chief. That merit was 
acknowledged in every form of popular rejoicing and congratulation. 
Cities and states were emulous in exhibitions of sympathy for his trials, 
exultation for his success, and respect for his character.* 

The importance of the victory at Buena Vista (says Mansfield) can 

* Fry's Life of Taylor. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 257 

pot be exacrgerated. It secured the whole frontier of the Rio Grande, 
and struck terror and dismay into the hearts of the Mexican nation. It 
was, in fact, the first great turning point of the war. 

General Taylor, on the 2d of March, intrusted to one of his aids, Mr. 
Thomas L. Crittenden, of Kentucky, the official reports of the battle of 
Buena Vista, to be conveyed to Washington. He was escorted by Major 
Giddings, commanding 260 infantry and two pieces of artillery, and hav- 
ing in charge also one hundred and fifty wagons. Near Ceralvo, on the 
road to Camargo, the escort was attacked by 1,600 Mexican cavalry and 
infantry, under Generals Urrea and Romaro. After a brief and gallant 
struggle the enemy was repulsed, with the loss of 45 killed and wounded. 
The Americans lost 17 men, of whom 15 were teamsters. General Tay- 
lor, subsequently hearing that Urrea was in command of a still larger force, 
pursued him with about 1,200 volunteers, and two companies of Bragg's 
artillery, as far as Caidereta, where he learned that the Mexicans had 
crossed the mountains. General Taylor then returned to the camp at 
Walnut Springs, three miles from Monterey, where he established his 
headquarters. 

The operations of General Scott, at Vera Cruz and other points on the 
gulf of Mexico, and the brilliant series of successes of that officer and 
the troops under his command, in the march from Vera Cruz to the city 
of Mexico, terminating in the capture and occupation of that capital by 
the American troops, in September, transferred the seat of war to that 
quarter. Consequently, General Taylor remained for some months in 
comparative inactivity, at his headquarters near Monterey. Actual hostili- 
ties with Mexico having been practically brought to an end, with the ex- 
ception of skirmishes with guerilla parties, General Taylor obtained per- 
mission to visit his family at Baton Rouge, in Louisiana, from whom he 
had now been absent for about two years. 

Accordingly, in November, 1847, he left the command of the army 
with General Wool, and took his departure for the United States, by the 
way of Camargo, Matamoras, and Point Isabel, at which last place he 
embarked in a steamer for New Orleans, and arrived below that city on 
the 1st of December. He landed at the barracks, where he met his fam- 
ily, and remained two days. He was greeted by salutes of cannon, dis- 
play of flags, and the cheers of the people. On the 3d the general pro- 
ceeded to the city, where he was received with transports of enthusiasm 
and joy by his fellow-citizens anxious to welcome him to his home. 
Along the shores of the Mississippi, as far as the eye could reach, gay 
streamers floated on the breeze from ships of every nation, and the nu- 
merous steamboats on the river added to the interest of the scene. 

General Taylor was accompanied by several officers of his staff", among 
whom was Major Bliss, assistant adjutant-general, who had accompanied 
him in all his campaigns and battles in Mexico. On landing at New 
17 



258 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

Orleans, a vast procession was formed, and the general was conducted to 
the St. Charles hotel, where he received the calls of several thousand 
citizens. To the address of the mayor, welcoming him to the city, the 
general made a modest and appropriate reply, expressive of his gratitude 
at this reception by the people of New Orleans. On the following day 
he visited the Roman catholic cathedral, and was welcomed in an eloquent 
address by Bishop Blanc. A magnificent sword that had been voted by 
the legislature of Louisiana, was presented by Governor Johnson, with 
appropriate remarks, to which General Taylor replied in language of deep 
feeling at the honor done him. 

On the 5th of December, General Taylor left the city in a steamer, for his 
home in Baton Rouge. On the way thither he was greeted with the most 
enthusiastic cheers from people on the banks of the river, and on board 
of steamers and other vessels. From that time he remained to enjoy the 
quiet of domestic retirement, of which he had so long been deprived, until 
summoned by the people to accept of new honors, and to enter upon the 
duties of the most important office in their gift. 

The brilliant achievements of Taylor during his campaigns in Mexico, 
so much attracted the admiration of the people of the United States, that 
a strong desire was early manifested by his fellow-citizens of various 
political parties, to place him in nomination as a candidate for president 
of the republic. His official despatches and private letters confirmed the 
favorable opinion generally entertained respecting his ability to fill the 
highest station with credit to himself and benefit to the nation — and the 
excellence of his private character, as well as his sterling good sense, 
was acknowledged by all. Although his political opinions were known 
to coincide with those of the whig party, he had never taken an active 
part in political contests ; many of the democratic party, therefore, avowed 
•their determination to support him as a candidate for the presidency, but 
the leaders of that party refused to acknowledge his claims. A large 
portion of the whig party, particularly in the southern and southwestern 
states, early saw in the popularity attached to his name, the great proba- 
bility of success in the presidential election if he could be made the can- 
didate of the party, and consequently used every eflx)rt to effect such a 
result. The attention, also, of citizens in several of the states, organized 
as the native American party, was turned toward General Taylor as a 
candidate for the presidency immediately after his brilliant victories on the 
Rio Grande and in Mexico. One of the earliest meetings of the people in 
favor of his nomination for president, was held at Trenton, New Jersey, 
on the 11th of June, 1846 ; this was followed by a similar meeting in the 
city of New York, on the 18th of the same month. Both of these 
meetings were called without distinction of party, soon after the recep- 
tion of the news of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. 
Taylor's nomination for the presidency was proposed to him by one of the 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 259 

native American party, in March, 1 847. While he did not positively refuse 
to allow his name to be used in that connexion, he stated in reply, April 28, 
1847, that he could not, while the country was involved in war, and while his 
duty called him to take part in the operations against the enemy, acknowl- 
edge any ambition beyond that of bestowing all his best exertions toward 
obtaining an adjustment of our difficulties with Mexico. Subsequently 
he expressed a willingness to become a candidate for the presidency, pro- 
vided that the call came from the spontaneous action and free will of the 
nation at large, and void of the slightest agency of his own. 

The following letters, respecting his nomination and his political prin- 
ciples, give his views on those points. 

"Baton Rouge, La., January 30, 1848. 

" Sir : Your communication of the 15th instant has been received, and 
the suggestions therein offered duly considered. 

" In reply to your inquiries, I have again to repeat, that I have neither 
the power nor the desire to dictate to the American people the exact man- 
ner in which they should proceed to nominate for the presidency of the 
United States. If they desire such a result, they must adopt the means 
best suited, in their opinion, to the consummation of the purpose ; and 
if they think fit to bring me before them for this office, through their 
legislatures, mass meetings, or conventions, I can not object to their des- 
ignating these bodies as whig, democrat, or native. But in being thus 
nominated, I must insist on the condition — and my position on this point 
is immutable — that I shall not be brought forward by them as the candi- 
date of their party, or considered as the exponent of their party doctrines. 

" In conclusion, I have to repeat, that if I were nominated for the presi- 
dency, by any body of my fellow-citizens, designated by any name they 
might choose to adopt, I should esteem it an honor, and would accept such 
nomination, provided it had been made entirely independent of party con- 
siderations. 

" I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, " Z. Taylor. 
"Peter Sken Smith, Esq., Philadelphia." 

" Baton Rouge, April 22, 1848. 

" Dear Sir : My opinions have been so often misconceived and mis- 
represented, that I deem it due to myself, if not to ray friends, to make a 
HrJef exDosition of them upon the topics to which you have called my 
attention. 

" I have consented to il:''^use of my name as a candidate for the presi- 
dency. I have frankly avowed xqy own distrust of my fitness for this 
high station ; but having, at the solicicaiUon of many of my countrymen, 
taken my position as a candidate, I do not feel at liberty to surrender that 
position until my friends manifest a wish that I should retire from it. I 
will then most gladly do so. I have no private purposes to accomplish, 



260 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

no party projects to build up, no enemies to punish — nothing to serve but 
my country. 

" I have been very often addressed by letter, and my opinions have 
been asked upon almost every question that might occur to the writers as 
affecting the interest of their country or their party. I have not always 
responded to these inquiries, for various reasons. 

" I confess, while I have great cardinal principles which will regulate 
my political life, I am not sufficiently familiar with all the minute details 
of political legislation to give solemn pledges to exert myself to carry out 
this or defeat that measure. I have no concealment. I hold no opinion 
which I would not readily proclaim to my assembled countrymen ; but 
crude impressions upon matters of policy, which may be right to-day and 
wrong to-morrow, are perhaps not the best test of fitness for office. One 
who can not be trusted without pledges, can not be confided in merely on 
account of them. 

" I will proceed, however, now to respond to your inquiries : — 

" 1. I reiterate what I have so often said : I am a whig. If elected, I 
would not be the mere president of a party. I would endeavor to act 
independent of party domination. 1 should feel bound to administer the 
government untrammelled by party schemes. 

"2. The Veto Power. — The power given by the constitution to the 
executive to interpose his veto, is a high conservative power ; but, in my 
opinion, should never be exercised except in cases of clear violation of 
the constitution, or manifest haste and want of consideration by Congress. 
Indeed, I have thought that for many years past the known opinions and 
wishes of the executive have exercised undue and injurious influence 
upon the legislative department of the government ; and for this cause I 
have thought our system was in danger of undergoing a great change 
from its true theory. The personal opinions of the individual who may 
happen to occupy the executive chair, ought not to control the action of 
Congress upon questions of domestic policy ; nor ought his objections to 
be interposed where questions of constitutional power have been settled 
by the various departments of government, and acquiesced in by the 
people. 

" 3. Upon the subject of the tariff, the currency, the improvement of 
our great highways, rivers, lakes, and harbors, the will of the people, as 
expressed through their representatives in Congress, ought to be respected 
and carried out by the executive. 

"4. The Mexican War. — I sincerely rejoice at the prospect of peace. 
My life has been devoted to arms, yet 1 look upon war at all times and 
under all circumstances as a national calamity, to be avoided if compatible 
with the national honor. The principles of our government, as well as 
its true policy, are opposed to the subjugation of other nations and the 
dismemberment of other countries by conquest. In the language of the 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 261 

great Washington, ' Why should we quit our own to stand on foreign 
ground ?' In the Mexican war our national honor has been vindicated ; 
and in dictating terms of peace, we may well afford to be forbearing and 
even magnanimous to a fallen foe. 

" These are my opinions upon the subjects referred to by you, and any 
reports or publications, written or verbal, from any source, differing in any 
essential particular from what is here written, are unauthorized and untrue. 

" I do not know that I shall again write upon the subject of national 
politics. I shall engage in no schemes, no combinations, no intrigues. 
If the American people have not confidence in me, they ought not to give 
me their suffrages. If they do not, you know me well enough to believe 
me, when I declare I shall be content. I am too old a soldier to murmur 
against such high authority. '• Z. Taylor. 

" To Captain J. S. Allison." 

With the knowledge of General Taylor's political opinions repeatedly 
expressed in the above and other answers to inquiries made of him, his 
name was prominently brought before the whig national convention which 
met at Philadelphia on the 1st of June, 1848. 

The first ballot taken in that convention showed the popularity of Gen- 
eral Taylor, even in comparison with his distinguished rivals as candidates 
for the presidency. The votes stood for Zachary Taylor, 111 ; Henry 
Clay, 97 ; Winfield Scott, 43 ; Daniel Webster, 22 ; John M. Clayton, 4 ; 
John M'Lean, 2. Necessary for a choice, 140 ; the whole number of 
votes being 279. 

On the second ballot the vote stood for Taylor, 118 ; Clay, 86 ; Scott, 
49; Webster, 22; Clayton, 4. Third ballot, Taylor, 133; Clay, 74; 
Scott, 54; Webster, 17; Clayton, 1. 

The fourth and final ballot gave Taylor 171 ; Clay, 35 ; Scott, 60 ; 
Webster, 14. It is worthy of notice, that the votes for General Taylor 
on the last ballot came from each of the thirty states represented in the 
convention ; thus showing that he was truly a national candidate. 

General Taylor was then declared duly nominated as the whig candidate 
for the presidency of the United States. Millard Fillmore, of the state 
of New York, was, on the second ballot, nominated by the same conven- 
tion for vice-president. 

Having duly accepted the nomination of the whig national convention, 
General Taylor remained with his family at Baton Rouge until the pres- 
idential election took place, in November, 1848. The result of that elec- 
tion, as shown by the votes of the people, and confirmed of course by the 
electoral colleges then chosen, which met in December following, was the 
election of Taylor and Fillmore, the whig candidates for president and 
vice-president, who each received 163 electoral votes, against 127 votes 
given for the democratic candidates, General Cass and General Butler. 



262 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

The distinguishing traits of General Taylor's character, as described by 
a friend, aro honesty, good judgment, benevolence, firmness, and energy. 
It were a waste of time to dwell upon these traits of his character, for his 
military career has afforded such abundant examples of his exercise of 
these qualities as to render them familiar to every one who has heard or 
read of the man. The following extracts from Taylor's official despatches 
at different periods of his life, are characteristic of his determination and 
unsurpassed bravery. 

In his letter to General Howard, giving the details of his expedition 
against the British and Indians on Red river in September, 1814, he 
says : — 

" I collected the officers together and put the following question to 
them : ' Are we able, 334 effective men, to fight the enemy with any pros- 
pect of success V They were of opinion the enemy was at least three to 
one, and that it was not practicable to effect the object. I then deter- 
mined to drop down the river and erect a fortj and should the enemy 
attempt to descend the river in force before the fort can be completed, 
every foot of the way from the fort to the settlements shall be contested." 

In his letter to the adjutant-general of the army, dated Point Isabel, 
May 7, ] 846 (more than thirty years after the above), he uses similar lan- 
guage, viz. : — 

" I shall march this day, with the main body of the army, to open a 
communication with Major Brown, and to throw forward supplies of ord- 
nance and provisions. If the enemy opposes my march, in whatever force, 
I shall fight him." 

In person, General Taylor is about five feet eight inches in height, and 
slightly inclined to corpulency. His complexion is dark, his forehead 
high, and his eyes keen and penetrating, indicating uniform good humor, 
his face careworn, but extremely intelligent, and generally lit up with a 
benevolent smile. He dresses at all times with great simplicity, and is 
kind and affable in his manners. He has been but once married, and has 
had four children — one son and three daughters. Of the latter, one mar- 
ried Dr. Wood, of the U. S. army ; another (since deceased) married 
Colonel Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, who commanded the Mississippi 
volunteers at Buena Vista ; the third married Colonel W. W. S. Bliss, of 
the army, who, as before mentioned, accompanied the general in his cam- 
paigns in Mexico. Colonel Bliss and lady reside with the president. 

On the 24th of January, General Taylor took his departure for Wash- 
ington, to enter upon the duties of the high office to which he had been 
elected by the sufirages of the people. On the day previous to his ta- 
king leave of his home and his immediate friends and neighbors, the cit- 
izens of Baton Rouge, without distinction of party, assembled spontane- 
ously, to pay him their respects and bid him farewell. A large procession 
was formed, which proceeded to his residence where he was appropriate- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 263 

ly addressed on behalf of the citizens, by one of their number. To this 
address he made a brief but touching reply, in which he assured them that 
it was with feelings of no ordinary character, that he met with his fellow- 
citizens on such an occasion, many of whom he had been associated with 
more than a quarter of a century. Had he consulted his own wishes, he 
said he should have preferred the office he was then about to vacate, and 
have remained among his old friends ; but that as the people had, without 
his solicitation, seen fit to elevate him to another station, though he dis- 
trusted his abilities satisfactorily to discharge the great and important du- 
ties thus imposed upon him, yet he assured them that he should endeavor 
to fulfil them without regard to fear, favor, or aflection from any one. In 
conclusion with his prayers for the welfare of his fellow-citizens of Ba- 
ton Rouge, he bade them an afl^ectionate farewell. 

The day succeeding General Taylor's departure. Colonel Bliss, assist- 
ant adjutant-general, issued an order announcing the resignation of the gen- 
eral, and his final withdrawal from the military service of the army. In 
resigning his commission, General Taylor expressed his " regret at his 
separation from a service to which he was attached by so many pleasing 
and proud associations. To the officers and men who had served under 
his immediate orders, he expressed his hearty thanks for their zealous and 
cordial support in the execution of the duties confided to him during a 
long and eventful service. To them and to all he extended a heartfelt 
farewell, and his warmest wishes for their continued happiness and suc- 
cess in the arduous and honorable career which they had chosen." Thus 
terminated Taylor's connexion with the army, after a service of more than 
forty years. 

On his journey to Washington, by way of the Mississippi and Ohio 
rivers, the Cumberland road, and the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, the 
president elect was met with the liveliest expressions of gratitude and re- 
spect by the people in the different places along his route. After a long 
and fatiguing journey, interrupted by the public demonstrations in the va- 
rious cities and towns through which he passed, he arrived at Washing- 
ton, on the evening of the 23d of February, the anniversary of the battle 
of Buena Vista — and was received with every demonstration of joy by 
the citizens and others assembled at the national capital. From the re- 
lay house, on the railroad, about thirty miles from Washington, he was at- 
tended by the mayor and several members of the city council. The de- 
lay at the relay house, where he was welcomed by deputations from Bal- 
timore, caused his arrival at the metropolis after nightfall — but the stars 
shone brightly, and the railroad track was occasionally illuminated by bon- 
fires on the route. By the roaring of cannon and flights of brilliant rock- 
ets was the general heralded into the city, and escorted by a large con- 
course of people to his quarters at Willard's hotel, on Pennsylvania ave- 
nue, where he remained until the day of his inauguration. 



264 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYJ.OR. 

The joint committee of the senate and house of representatives appoint- 
ed to wait on the president and vice-president elect and inform them of 
their election to those high offices, having accordingly waited on General 
Taylor, after his arrival at the seat of government, and through their chair- 
man. Colonel Jefferson Davis of Mississippi (his son-in-law), performed 
that duly ; " the president elect, in signifying his acceptance of the of- 
fice to which he had been chosen by the people, evinced emotions of the 
profoundest gratitude, and acknowledged his distrust of his ability to ful- 
fil the expectations upon which their confidence was based, but gave as- 
surances of a fixed purpose to administer the government for the benefit 
and advantage of the whole country. 

" In alluding to the fact to which his attention had been drawn, that the 
chairman of the committee represented a public body, a majority of whom 
were opposed in political opinion to the president elect, and accorded with 
that majority, he recognised in it the deference to the popular will consti- 
tutionally expressed, on which rests the strength and hope of the republic, 
and he said that it was to have been expected from the senate of the Uni- 
ted States. 

" He expressed an ardent wish that he might be able in any degree to 
assuage the fierceness of party, or temper with moderation the conflicts of 
those who are only divided as to the means of securing the public welfare. 

" He said, having been reminded that he was about to occupy the chair 
once filled by Washington, that he could hope to emulate him only in the 
singleness of the aims which guided the conduct of the man who had no 
parallel in history, and no rival in the hearts of his countrymen. 

" In conclusion, he announced his readiness to take the oath of office 
on the 5th of March, proximo, at such hour and place as might be desig- 
nated." 

The report of the committee being made to the senate on the 27th of 
February, that body appointed as a committee to make the necessary ar- 
rangements for the reception of the president elect on the 5th of March, 
Senators Reverdy Johnson, Jefierson Davis, and John Davis. 

THE INArOURATION. 

At the appointed time, Monday, March, 5, 1849, the inauguration of 
General Zachary Taylor as president of the United States, took place, in 
front of the great portico of the capitol. The multitude of people assem- 
bled on the occasion from every part of the Union, for the purpose of wit- 
nessing the interesting ceremony, is supposed to have been much larger 
than was ever before collected in Washington. The weather, although the 
sky was clouded, was as pleasant as usual at this season of the year. At 
the break of day the strains of martial music resounded along the princi- 
pal avenues of the city, and hundreds of national flags were unfolded to 
the breeze. The bells of the city then rang a stirring peal, and long be- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 265 

fore the usual hour of breakfast, the people were wending their way in 
immense masses to the capitol. 

At nine o'clock, one hundred citizens who officiated as marshals on 
horseback, proceeded in a body to Willard's hotel, for the purpose of pay- 
ing their respects to General Taylor. After the ceremony of introduc- 
tion, the marshals retired to attend to their official duties, and the presi- 
dent elect, who was dressed in a plain suit of black, and in the enjoyment 
of his usual good health, returned to his apartments to prepare for the pro- 
cession. 

At half past eleven o'clock, the procession took up its line of march 
from the hotel to the capitol. The military of Washington, Bahimore, 
&c., who formed part of the procession, presented an imposing appearance. 
The carriage in which the president elect was escorted was drawn by four 
gray horses. Ex-President Polk, Mr. Speaker Winthrop, and Mr. Sea- 
ton, mayor of Washington, accompanied General Taylor in the carriage. 
Pennsylvania avenue, along which the procession passed, was thronged 
with thousands of people ; many of the roofs of the houses were also cov- 
ered, and every window was occupied by spectators. The time occupied 
by the procession in reaching the east front of the capitol was about an 
hour, and after the conclusion of the inaugural ceremonies, the booming 
of artillery resounded through the city. 

The senate being convened at eleven o'clock, after prayer by the chap- 
lain, the Hon. David R. Atchison of Missouri, was chosen president, pro 
tern. The diplomatic corps, representing various foreign nations, were 
next announced. The brilliancy of some of their costumes appeared in 
fine contrast with the dark robes of the judges of the supreme court, seated 
opposite to them. 

The late vice-president, Mr, Dallas, then conducted to the chair the 
Hon. Millard Fillmore, the vice-president elect, to whom the oath of office 
was administered by Mr. Atchison, after which, Mr. Fillmore delivered 
with calmness and dignity, an appropriate address, and took his seat as 
president of the senate. 

At twelve o'clock, the members of the late executive cabinet appeared, 
and occupied places on the left of the vice-president. 

All things were now in readiness for the appearance of the president 
elect, who, after an interval, entered the senate- chamber in company with 
Ex-President Polk, and took a seat which had been prepared for him ; Mr. 
Polk occupying another upon his left hand. 

After a Srief pause the order of procession was announced, and the com- 
pany retired from the chamber of the senate in the order prescribed, to the 
east portico of the capitol, where an extensive staging had been erected. 
At about one o'clock, the president elect, in full view of at least twenty 
thousand people from all parts of the Union, pronounced his inaugural ad- 
dress. It was delivered in a remarkably distinct voice, and many parts 



266 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF TAYLOR. 

of it were enunciated with a full and clear emphasis, and enthusiastically 
responded to by the cheers of the surrounding spectators. As soon as the 
applause which marked the conclusion of the address had subsided, the 
oath of office was administered to the president, by Chief-Justice Taney. 
The president then received congratulations from numerous persons pres- 
ent, Chief-Justice Taney and Ex-President Polk taking the lead. 

The ceremonies at the capitol were terminated by salvos of artillery, 
and the president and the procession returned down the avenue leading 
from the capitol to the White house, appropriated to the residence of the 
successive presidents of the United States, At this mansion, the presi- 
dent received with his accustomed courtesy the salutes of some thousands 
of his fellow-citizens, and in the evening visited several balls given in 
honor of the occasion. 

On the 6th of March, the president nominated to the senate the follow- 
ing gentlemen to compose his cabinet, and they were, the following day, 
confirmed by that body, viz. : John M. Clayton, of Delaware, secretary 
of state ; William M. Meredith, of Pennsylvania, secretary of the treas- 
ury ; George W. Crawford, of Georgia, secretary of war ; William B. 
Preston, of Virginia, secretary of the navy; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, 
secretary of the interior ; Jacob Collamer, of Vermont, postmaster-gen- 
eral ; Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, attorney-general. 

These officers, with the exception of Mr. Crawford, who arrived from 
Georgia a few days afterward, respectively took the oath of office and ca- 
tered upon their duties on the 8ih of March, 1849. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAiN UNION. 



A brief History of the Events and Circumstances which, led to the Union 
of the States, and the formation of the Constitution. 

In the early history of the New England colonies, we find the first in- 
stance of the association of the people of America for mutual defence and 
protection, while they owed allegiance to the British crown. In 1643, the 
colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, un- 
der the impression of danger from the surrounding tribes of Indians, en- 
tered into a league, offensive and defensive, firm and perpetual, under the 
name of the United Colonies of New England. They vested in an an- 
nual congress of commissioners, delegated from each colony, the authority 
to regulate their general concerns, and especially to levy war and make 
requisitions of men and money, upon the several members of the union in 
a ratio to their respective numbers. This confederacy subsisted for up- 
ward of forty years, and, for part of the time, with the countenance of the 
government in England, and was dissolved under King James II., in the 
year 1686. 

This association is generally considered as the foundation of subsequent 
efforts for a more extensive and perfect union of the British North Ameri- 
can colonies ; and the people of this country continued, after the dissolu- 
tion of this league, to afford other instructive precedents of associations 
for their safely. A congress of governors and commissioners from other 
colonies, as well as from New England, was occasionally held, the better 
to make arrangements for the protection of their interior frontier, of which 
we have an instance at Albany, in the year 1722 ; and a much more in- 
teresting congress was held at the same place in the year 1754, which 
consisted of commissioners from the colonies of New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ma- 
ryland. It was called at the instance of the British government, to take 
into consideration the best means of defending America, as a war with 
France was then apprehended. The object of the British government, in 
calling this congress, was to efliect treaties with the Indian tribes ; but the 
commissioners, among whom was Dr. Franklin, and other distinguished 



268 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN TINION. 



men in the colonies, had more enlarged views. They asserted and pro- 
mulgated some invaluable truths, the proper reception of which in the 
minds of their countrymen prepared the way for their future independence 
and union. The commissioners unanimously resolved that a union of the 
colonies was absolutely necessary for their preservation. They likewise 
rejected all proposals for a division of the colonies into separate confeder- 
acies, and adopted a plan of federal government, drawn up by Dr. Frank- 
lin, consisting of a general council of delegates, to be chosen by the 
provincial assemblies, and a president general to be appointed by the 
crown. In this council were proposed to be vested, subject to the nega- 
tive of the president, many of the rights of war and peace, and the right 
to lay and levy imposts and taxes ; and the union was to embrace all the 
colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia. But the times were not yet 
ripe, nor the minds of men sufficiently enlarged, for such a comprehensive 
proposition ; and this bold project for a continental union, had the singular 
fate of being rejected, not only by the king, but by every provincial as- 
sembly. We were to remain some years longer separate and alien com- 
monwealths, emulous of each other in obedience to the parent stale, but 
jealous of each other's prosperity, and divided by policy, interest, preju- 
dice, and manners. So strong was the force of these considerations, and 
so exasperated were the people of the colonies against each other in their 
disputes about boundaries, that Dr. Franklin, in the year 1761, observed, 
that a union of the colonies was absolutely impossible, or at least without 
being forced by the most grievous tyranny and oppression.* 

The seeds of union, however, had been sown, and its principles were 
to gather strength and advance toward maturity, when the season of com- 
mon danger approached. When the first attempt upon our liberties was 
made by the British government, by the passage of the stamp act, in 1765, 
a congress of delegates from nine colonies assembled in New York, in 
October of that year, at the instance and recommendation of Massachu- 
setts. The colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Caro- 
lina, were represented. This congress adopted a declaration of rights, in 
■which the sole power of taxation was asserted to reside in the colonial 
legislatures, and they also declared, that the restrictions imposed by sev- 
eral late acts of parliament on the colonies were burdensome, and would 
render them unable to purchase the manufactures of Great Britain. An 
address to the king, and a petition to each house of parliament, were 
adopted. 

These state papers evince the talents, as well as firmness, tempered 
with wisdom and moderation, of this first American congress ; composed, 
as it was, of some of the most distinguished statesmen from the several 
colonies therein represented.! 

* Kent's Historical Lecture in 1795. f Pitkin. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 269 

The congress of 1765, was only a preparatory step to a more extensive 
and permanent union, which took place at Philadelphia, in September, 
1774, and thereby laid the foundations of this great republic. The more 
serious and impending oppressions of the British parliament at this last 
critical era, induced the twelve colonies which spread over this vast 
continent, from Nova Scotia to Georgia, to an interchange of political 
opinions, and to concur in choosing and sending delegates to Philadelphia, 
" with authority and direction to meet and consult together for the common 
welfare." The assembling of this congress was first recommended by a 
town-meeting of the people of Providence, Rhode Island, followed by the 
colonial assemblies of Massachusetts and Virginia, and by other public 
bodies and meetings of the people. In some of the legislatures of the 
colonies, delegates were appointed by the popular or representative 
branch ; and in other cases, they were appointed by conventions of the 
people in the colonies. The congress of delegates (calling themselves, in 
their more formal acts, " the delegates appointed by the good people of 
these colonies") assembled on the 4th of September, 1774 ; and having 
chosen officers, they adopted certain fundamental rules for their proceed- 
ings. All the colonies were represented, except Georgia. 

Thus was organized, under the auspices, and with the consent, of the 
people, acting directly in their primary, sovereign capacity, and without 
the intervention of the functionaries to whom the ordinary powers of gov- 
ernment were delegated in the colonies, the first general or national gov- 
ernment, which has been very aptly called " the revolutionary govern- 
ment," since, in its origin and progress, it was wholly conducted upon 
revolutionary principles. The congress, thus assembled, exercised, de 
facto and de jure, a sovereign authority ; not as the delegated agents of 
the governments de facto of the colonies, but in virtue of original powers 
derived from the people. The revolutionary government thus formed, 
terminated only when it was regularly superseded by the confederated 
government, under articles finally ratified, as we shall see, in 1781.* 

The first and most important of their acts was a declaration, that in de- 
termining questions in this congress, each colony or province should have 
one vote ; and this became the established course during the revolution. 
They proposed a general congress to be held at the same place in May, 
in the next year. They appointed committees to take into consideration 
their rights and grievances ; asserted by number of declaratory resolu- 
tions, what they deemed to be the unalienable rights of English freemen ; 
pointed out to their constituents the system of violence which was pre- 
paring against those rights ; and bound them by the most sacred of all 
ties, the ties of honor and their country, to renounce commerce with Great 
Britain, as being the most salutary means to avert the one, and to secure 
the blessings of the other. These resolutions were received with univer- 
* Judge Story's Commentaries. 



270 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 

sal and prompt obedience ; and the union being thus auspiciously formed, 
it was continued by a succession of delegates in Congress ; and through 
every period of the war, and through every revolution of our government, 
it has been revered and cultivated as the tutelary guardian of our lib- 
erties.* 

In May, 1775, the second continental congress of delegates from all the 
colonies (except Georgia), assembled at Philadelphia, and were invested 
by the colonies with very ample discretionary powers. These delegates 
were chosen, as the preceding had been, partly by the popular branch of 
the legislatures when in session, but principally by conventions of the 
people in the various states. In July, Georgia acceded to, and completed 
the confederacy. Hostilities had already commenced in the province of 
Massachusetts Bay, and the unconditional sovereignty of the British parlia- 
ment over the colonies was to be asserted by an appeal to arms. Congress, 
charged with the general interests and superintending direction of the Union, 
and supported by the zeal and confidence of their constituents, prepared 
for defence. They published a declaration of the causes and necessity of 
taking up arms, and forthwith proceeded to levy and organize an army, to 
prescribe rules for the regulation of their land and naval forces, to emit a 
paper currency, contract debts, and exercise all the other prerogatives of 
an independent sovereignly, till at last, on the 4th day of July, 1776, they 
took a separate and equal station among the powers of the earth, by de- 
claring the united colonies to be free and independent states. 

This memorable declaration, in imitation of that published by the Uni- 
ted Netherlands on a similar occasion, recapitulated the oppressions of the 
British king, asserted it to be the natural right of every people to with- 
draw from tyranny, and made a solemn appeal to mankind, in vindication 
of the necessity of the measure. By this declaration, made in the name, 
and by the authority, of the people, these United States were absolved 
from all allegiance to the British crown, and all political connexion be- 
tween them and the state of Great Britain was totally dissolved. The 
principles of self-preservation, and of social happiness, gave a clear sanc- 
tion to this act of separation. When the government established over any 
people becomes incompetent, or destructive to the ends for which it was 
instituted, it is the right and the duty of such people, founded on the law 
of nature, and the reason and practice of mankind, to throw oS such gov 
ernment, and provide new guards for their future security. 

The establishment of the republics of Holland and Switzerland bears a 
striking analogy to that of the United States, in the causes which produced 
them, and in the manner in which they were conducted. The United 
Netherlands were formerly a part of the immense dominions of the Span- 
ish empire ; but the violent government of Philip the Second, and the un- 
relenting intolerance of the inquisition, drove those distant provinces to 

• Kent. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 271 

union and resistance. In 1579, by the celebrated treaty of Utrecht, they 
entered into a league for their mutual defence, and that treaty was always 
considered as the bond of their union, and the foundation of their republic. 
But although they had for sometime made open resistance to the force of 
Spain, yet it was not till the 26th of July, 1581, after all hopes of recon- 
ciliation were lost, and the authority of Philip had been for some time 
virtually renounced, that the confederated provinces, equally distinguished 
for their forbearance and firmness, solemnly declared themselves inde- 
pendent states, and absolved from all allegiance to the Spanish crown. It 
is well known that Spain continued to make long and powerful efforts to 
reduce them to obedience, till at last, exhausted herself, she was reluc- 
tantly compelled to a permanent recognition of their independence at the 
treaty of Westphalia. Similar to that of the Netherlands was the case of 
Switzerland, which formerly fell under the dominion of the German em- 
pire, acknowledging the counts of Hapsburg for her protectors, and faith- 
fully preserving her allegiance after that family, under the well-known 
name of the house of Austria, succeeded to the imperial crown. The 
tyranny of the imperial bailiffs became insupportable, and three of the 
Swiss cantons threw off the Austrian yoke in the year 1308, and confed- 
erated together for their common defence. The house of Austria carried 
on an implacable war against them for more than a century. That cele- 
brated confederacy, which originally consisted of only the three cantons 
of Uri, Schvveitz, and Underwalden, kept continually increasing in strength, 
by the accession of other cantons from conquest or alliance ; but the union 
of the thirteen cantons was not completed for two centuries, nor was their 
independence fully and finally acknowledged by the house of Austria, till 
the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648.* 

To return to the history of our own government : the general sentiment 
of the importance of the union appears evident in all the early proceedings 
of Congress. In July, 1775, a year before the declaration of independ- 
ence. Dr. Franklin submitted to the consideration of Congress, a sketch 
of articles of confederation between the colonies, to continue until their 
reconciliation with Great Britain, and in failure of that event, to be per- 
petual. This plan appears to have never been discussed in Congress. f 
But during the time that the declaration of independence was under con- 
sideration, Congress took measures for the formation of a constitutional 
plan of union. On the 11th of June, 1776, it was resolved that a committee 
should be appointed to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be 
entered into between the colonies ; and the day following a committee, con- 
sisting of one member from each colony, was appointed, to perform that duty. 
Upon the report of this committee, which was laid aside on the 20th of 
August, 1776, and not resumed till the 7th of April, 1777, the subject was 
from time to time debated, until the 15th of November, 1777, when a copy 
* Kent's Historical Lecture. f J- Q- Adams's Jubilee Discourse, 1S39. 



272 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 

of the articles of confederation being made out, the same was finally agreed 
to. Congress, at the same time, directed that the articles should be pro- 
posed to the legislatures of all the United States, to be considered, and, if 
approved of by them, they were advised to authorize their delegates to 
ratify the same in the Congress of the United States ; which being done, 
the same should become conclusive. On the 29th of November ensuing, 
a committee of three was appointed, to procure a translation of the articles 
to be made into the French language, and to report an address to the in- 
habitants of Canada, &c. On the 26th of June, 1778, the form of a rati- 
fication of the articles of confederation was adopted, and it was ordered 
that the whole should be engrossed on parchment, with a view that the 
same should be signed by the delegates, in virtue of the powers furnished 
by the several states.* 

On the 9th of July, 1778, the articles were signed by the delegates of 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New 
York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina. The delegates from 
New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, informed Congress that they had 
not yet received powers to ratify and sign. North Carolina and Georgia 
were not represented — and the ratification of New York was conditional, 
that all the other states should ratify. 

The delegates from North Carolina signed the articles on the 21st of 
July, 1778 ; those of Georgia on the 24th of the same month; those of 
New Jersey on the 26th of November, 1778 ; those of Delaware on the 
22d of February, and 5th of May, 1779 ; but Maryland held out to the 
last, and positively refused the ratification, until the question of the con- 
flicting claims of the Union and of the separate states, to the property of 
the crown-lands, should be adjusted. This was finally accomplished by 
cessions from the claiming states to the United States, of the unsettled 
lands, for the benefit of the whole Union. 

The cessions of the claiming states of the crown-lands to the Union, 
originated the territorial system, and, eventually, in the ordinance for the 
government of the Northwestern territory (passed by Congress in July, 
1786). It also removed the insuperable objection of the state of Maryland 
to the articles of confederation ; and her delegates signed them on the 1st 
of March, 1781, four years and four months after they had been submitted 
by Congress to the sovereign states, with a solemn averment that they 
could no longer be deferred ; that they seemed essential to the very exist- 
ence of the Union as a free people ; and that, without them, they might be 
constrained to bid adieu to independence, to liberty, and safety. f 

The confederation being thus finally complete, by the ratification of the 
delegates from Maryland, on the 1st of March, 1781, the event was joy- 
fully announced by Congress, and, on the 2d of March, that body assem- 
bled under the new powers.| 

* Force's National Calendar, 1830. f Adams's Jubilee Discourse. 

i For the Articles of Confederation, see Vol. I., pagt^s 1-7, of this work. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 273 

It will be observed, that the term of the continental Congress is properly 
divided into two periods, namely : the first extending from the first meet- 
ing, on the 4lh of September, 1774, until the ratification of the confedera- 
tion, on the 1st of March, 1781 ; the second, from the 1st of March, 1781, 
until the organization of the government under the constitution, on the 4th 
of March, 1789. The first period may be called that of " the revolutionary 
national government;" the second was that of " the confederation." 

The question naturally presents itself, if the declaration is to be consid- 
ered as a national act, in what manner did the colonies become a nation, 
and in what manner did Congress become possessed of this national pow- 
er? The true answer must be, that as soon as Congress assumed powers 
and passed measures, which were in their nature national, to that extent 
the people, from whose acquiescence and consent they took effect, must 
be considered as agreeing to form a nation. The Congress of 1774, look- 
ing at the general terms of the commissions under which the delegates 
were appointed, seem to have possessed the power of concerting such 
measures as they deemed best to redress the grievances, and preserve the 
rights and liberties, of all the colonies. The Congress of 1775 and 1776 
were clothed with more ample powers, and the language of their commis- 
sions generally was sufficiently broad to embrace the right to pass meas- 
ures of a national character and obligation. The Congress of 1775 ac- 
cordingly assumed at once the exercise of some of the highest functions 
of sovereignty. They took measures for national defence and resistance ; 
they followed up the prohibitions upon trade and intercourse with Great 
Britain ; they raised a national army and navy, and authorized limited na- 
tional hostilities against Great Britain ; they raised money, emitted bills 
of credit, and contracted debts upon national account ; they established a 
national postoffice ; and, finally, they authorized captures and condemna- 
tion of prizes in prize courts, with a reserve of appellate jurisdiction to 
themselves. 

The same body, in 1776, took bolder steps, and exerted powers which 
could in no other manner be justified or accounted for, than upon the sup- 
position that a national union for national purposes already existed, and 
that the Congress was invested with sovereign power over all the colonies, 
for the purpose of preserving the common rights and liberties of all. The 
validity of these acts was never doubted or denied by the people. On the 
contrary, they became the foundation upon which the superstructure of the 
liberties and independence of the United States has been erected. 

From the moment of the declaration of independence, if not for most 
purposes at an antecedent period, the united colonies must be considered 
as being a nation de facto, having a general government over it, created 
and acting by the general consent of the people of the colonies. The 
powers of that government were not, and indeed could not be, well de- 
fined. But still its exclusive sovereignty, in many cases, was firmly es- 
18 



274 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN' UNION. 

tablished ; and its controlling power over the states was in most, if not in 
all national measures, universally admitted. The articles of confederation 
were not ratified so as to become obligatory upon all the states, until 
March, 1781. In the intermediate time, Congress continued to exercise 
the powers of a general government, whose acts were binding on all the 
states. In respect to foreign governments, we were politically known as 
the United States only ; and it was in our national capacity, as such, that 
we sent and received ambassadors, entered into treaties and alliances, and 
were admitted into the general community of nations, who might exercise 
the ritrht of belligerents, and claim an equality of sovereign powers and 
prerogatives.* 

The continental congress, upon trial, soon found that the powers de- 
rived from the articles of confederation were inadequate to the legitimate 
objects of an effective national government. Defects were more particu- 
larly manifest, whenever it became necessary to legislate upon the subject 
of commerce and that of taxes ; and it was at length indispensably neces- 
sary to amend the articles in such a way as to give authority and force to 
the national will in matters of trade and revenue. This was from time to 
time attempted, until the present constitution of the United States was 
adopted. The most important movements in Congress showing the prog- 
ress of constitutional legislation, were on the 3d of February, 1781, April 
18, 1783, April 26, 1783, April 30, 1784, March 3, 1786, September 29, 
1786, and October 23, 1 786.1 

Peace came (in 1783). The heroic leader of the revolutionary armies 
surrendered his commission. The armies were disbanded, but they were 
not paid. Mutiny was suppressed ; but not until Congress had been sur- 
rounded by armed men, demanding justice, and appealed in vain for pro- 
tection to the sovereign state within whose jurisdiction they were sitting. 
A single frigate, the remnant of a gallant navy, which had richly shared 
the glories, and deeply suffered the calamities of the war, was dismantled 
and sold. The expenses of the nation were reduced to the minimum of a 
peace establishment, and yet the nation was not relieved. The nation 
wanted a government founded on the principles of the Declaration of In- 
dependence — a government constituted by the people. 

In the congress of the confederation, the master-minds of James Madi- 
son and Alexander Hamilton were constantly engaged through the closing 
years of the Revolutionary war, and those of peace which immediately 
succeeded. That of John Jay was associated with them shortly after the 
peace, in the capacity of secretary to the congress for foreign affairs. 
The incompetency of the articles of confederation for the management of 
the affairs of the Union at home and abroad, was demonstrated to them by 
the painful and mortifying experience of every day. Washington, though 
in retirement, was brooding over the cruel injustice suffered by his asso- 
• Story's Commentaries. f Force's Calendar, 1S30. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 275 

ciates in arms, the warriors of the revolution ; o\'er the prostration of the 
public credit and the faith of the nation, in the neglect to provide for the 
payment even of the interest upon the public debt ; over the disappointed 
hopes of the friends of freedom ; in the language of the address from Con- 
gress to the .states, of the 18th of April, 1783 — " the pride and boast of 
America, that the rights for which she contended were the rights of humaa 
nature." 

At his residence of Mount Vernon, in March, 1785, the first idea was 
started of a revisal of the articles of confederation, by an organization of 
means differing from that of a compact between the state legislatures and 
their own delegates in Congress. A convention of delegates from the state 
legislatures, independent of the Congress itself, was the expedient which 
presented itself for effecting the purpose, and an augmentation of the pow- 
ers of Congress for the regulation of commerce, as the object for which 
this assembly was to be convened. In January, 1786, the proposal was 
made and adopted in the legislature of Virginia, and communicated to the 
other state legislatures. 

The convention was held at Annapolis, in September of that year. It 
was attended by delegates from only five of the central states, who, on 
comparing their restricted powers with the glaring and universally-ac- 
knowledged defects of the confederation, reported only a recommendation 
for the assemblage of another convention of delegates to meet at Philadel- 
phia in May, 1787, from all the states, and with enlarged powers. 

The constitution of the United States was the work of this convention. 
But in its construction, the convention immediately perceived that they 
must retrace their steps, and fall back from a league of friendship between 
sovereign states, to the constituent sovereignty of the people — from power 
to right — from the irresponsible despotism of state sovereignty, to the self- 
evident truths of the Declaration of Independence. From the day of that 
declaration, the constituent power of the people had never been called 
into action. A confederacy had been substituted in the place of a govern- 
ment, and state sovereignty had usurped the constituent sovereignty of the 
people. 

The convention assembled at Philadelphia had themselves no direct 
authority from the people. Their authority was all derived from the state 
legislatures. But they had the articles of confederation before them, and 
they saw and felt the wretched condition into which they had brought the 
whole people, and that the Union itself was in the agonies of death. They 
soon perceived that the indispensably-needed powers were such as no 
state government ; no combination of them was, by the principles of the 
Declaration of Independence, competent to bestow. They could emanate 
only from the people. A highly respectable portion of the assembly, still 
clinging to the confederacy of states, proposed, as a substitute for the con- 
stitution, a mere revival of the articles of confederation, with a grant of 



276 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 

additional powers to the Congress. Their plan was respectfully and thor- 
oughly discussed ; but the want of a government, and of the sanction of 
the people to the delegation of powers, happily prevailed. A constitution 
for the people, and the distribution of legislative, executive, and judicial 
powers, was prepared. It announced itself as the work of the people 
themselves ; and as this was unquestionably a power assumed by the con- 
vention, not delegated to them by the people, they religiously confined it 
to a simple power to propose, and carefully provided that it should be no 
more than a proposal, until sanctioned by the confederation Congress, by 
the state legislatures, and by the people of the several states, in conven- 
tions specially assembled, by authority of their legislatures, for the single 
purpose of examining and passing upon it. 

And thus was consummated the work, commenced by the Declaration 
of Independence ; a work in which the people of the North American 
Union, acting under the deepest sense of responsibility to the Supreme 
Ruler of the universe, had achieved the most transcendent act of power 
that social man, in his mortal condition, can perform ; even that of dis- 
solving the ties of allegiance by which he is bound to his country — of re- 
nouncing that country itself — of demolishing its government, of instituting 
another government, and of making for himself another country in its 
stead. 

The revolution itself was a work of thirteen years — and had never been 
completed until that day (when Washington was inaugurated, on the 30th 
of April, 1789). The Declaration of Independence and the constitution 
of the United States, are parts of one consistent whole, founded upon one 
and the same theory of government, then new, not as a theory, for it had 
been working itself into the mind of man for many ages, and been espe- 
cially expounded in the writings of Locke, but had never before been 
adopted by a great nation in practice.* 



Proceedings of commissioners frSm certain states, assemhled at Annapolis, 
in September, 1786, to consider on the best ?neans of remedying the defects 
of the federal government. 

Annapolis, in the state of Maryland, September 11, 1786. — At a meeting 
of commissioners from the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, and Virginia : present. New York : Alexander Hamilton, Eg- 
bert Benson ; Nevj Jersey : Abraham Clark, William C. Houston, James 
Schureman ; Pennsylvania : Tench Coxe ; Delaware : George Read, John 
Dickinson, Richard Basset ; Virginia : Edmund Randolph, James Madi- 
son, jr.. Saint George Tucker. 

Mr. Dickinson was unanimously elected chairman. The commissioners 

produced their credentials from their respective states, which were read. 

After a full communication of sentiments, and deliberate consideration of 

what would be proper to be done by the commissioners now assembled, 

• Adams's Jubilee Discourse. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 277 

it was unanimously agreed, that a committee be appointed to prepare a 
draught of a report to be made to the states having commissioners attend- 
ing at this meeting. Adjourned till Wednesday morning. 

Wednfsday, Sept. 13. — Met agreeable to adjournment. The committee 
a])pointed for that purpose reported the draught of the report, which beinor 
read, the meeting proceeded to the consideration thereof, and after some 
time spent therein, adjourned till to-morrow morning. 

Thursday, Sept. 14. — Met agreeable to adjournment. The meeting re- 
sumed the consideration of the draught of the report, and after some time 
spent therein, and amendments made, the same was unanimously agreed to, 
and is as follows, to wit : — 

To the honorahle, the legislatures of Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey, and New York, the commissioners from the said states, respec- 
tively, assembled at Annapolis, humhly beg leave to report : — 

That, pursuant to their several appointments, they met at Annapolis, in 
the state of Maryland, on the 11th day of September, instant, and having 
proceeded to a communication of their powers, they found that the states 
of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, had, in substance, and nearly 
in the same terms, authorized their respective commissioners " to meet 
such commissioners as were or might be appointed by the other states in 
the union, at such time and place as should be agreed upon by the said 
commissioners, to take into consideration the trade and commerce of 
the United States, to consider how far a uniform system in their commer- 
cial intercourse and regulations, might be necessary to their common in- 
terest and permanent harmony, and to report to the several states such an 
act relative to this great object, as, when unanimously ratified by them, 
would enable the United States, in Congress assembled, effectually to pro- 
vide for the same." 

That the state of Delaware had given similar powers to their commis- 
sioners, with this difference only, that the act to be framed in virtue of 
these powers, is required to be reported " to the United States, in Con- 
gress assembled, to be agreed to by them, and confirmed by the legisla- 
tures of every state." 

That the state of New .Jersey had enlarged the object of their appoint- 
ment, empowering their commissioners " to consider how far a uniform 
system in their commercial regulations, and other iinportant matters, might 
be necessary to the common interest and permanent harmony of the sev- 
eral states ;" and to report such an act on the subject, as, when ratified by 
them, " would enable the United States, in Congress assembled, effectually 
to provide for the exigencies of the Union." 

That appointments of commissioners have also been made by the states 
of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and North Carolina, 
none of whom, however, have attended ; but that no information has been 
received by your commissioners of any appointment having been made 
by the slates of Connecticut, Maryland, South Carolina, or Georgia. 

That the express terms of the powers to your commissioners supposing 
a deputation from all the states, and having for object the trade and com- 
merce of the United States, your commissioners did not conceive it advi- 
sable to proceed on the business of their mission under the circumstances 
of so partial and defective a representation. 

Deeply impressed, however, with the magnitude and importance of the 
object confided to them on this occasion, your commissioners can not for- 



278 HISTORTCAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 

bear to inrlulge an expression of their earnest and unanimous wish, that 
speedy measures may be taken to effect a general meeting of the stales, 
in a future convention, for the same and such other purposes as the situa- 
tion of public afi'airs may be found to require. 

If, in expressing this wish, or in intimating any other sentiment, your 
commissioners should seem to exceed the strict bounds of their appoint- 
ment, they entertain a full confidence, that a conduct dictated by an anxiety 
for the welfare of the United States, will not fail to receive an indulgent 
construction. 

In this persuasion, your commissioners submit an opinion, that the idea 
of extending the powers of their deputies to other objects than those of 
commerce, which has been adopted by the state of New Jersey, was an 
improvement on the original plan, and will deserve to be incorporated into 
that of a future convention. They are the more naturally led to this con- 
clusion, as, in the course of their reflections on the subject, they have 
been induced to think that the power of regulating trade is of such com- 
prehensive extent, and will enter so far into the general system of the fed- 
ej^l government, that to give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and 
doubts concerning its precise nature and limits, may require a correspon- 
dent adjustment of other parts of the federal system. 

That there are important defects in the system of the federal govern- 
ment, is acknowledged by the acts of all those states which have concur- 
red in the present meeting ; that the defects, upon a closer examination, 
may be found greater and more numerous than even these acts imply, is at 
least so far probable, from the embarrassments which characterize the 
present state of our national affairs, foreign and domestic, as may reason- 
ably be supposed to merit a deliberate and candid discussion, in some 
mode which will unite the sentiments and councils of all the states. In 
the choice of the mode, your commissioners are of opinion, that a con- 
vention of deputies from the diff"erent states, for the special and sole pur- 
pose of entering into this investigation, and digesting a plan for supplying 
such defects as may be discovered to exist, will be entitled to a prefer- 
ence, from considerations which will occur without being particularized. 

Your commissioners decline an enumeration of those national circum- 
stances on which their opinion respecting the propriety of a future con- 
vention, with more enlarged powers, is founded ; as it would be a useless 
intrusion of facts and observations, most of which have been frequently the 
subject of public discussion, and none of which can have escaped the 
penetration of those to whom they would, in this instance, be addressed. 
They are, however, of a nature so serious, as, in the view of your com- 
missioners, to render the situation of the United States delicate and criti- 
cal, calling for an exertion of the united virtue and wisdom of all the 
members of the confederacy. 

Under this impression, your commissioners, with the most respectful 
deference, beg leave to suggest their unanimous conviction, that it may 
essentially tend to advance the interests of the Union, if the states, by 
whom they have been respectively delegated, would themselves concur, 
and use their endeavors to procure the concurrence of the other states, in 
the appointment of commissioners, to meet at Philadelphia on the second 
Monday in May next, to take into consideration the situation of the United 
States, to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary 
to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exi- 
gencies of the Union ; and to report such an act for that purpose, to the 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 279 

United States, in Congress assembled, as, when agreed to by them, and 
afterward confirmed by the legislatures of every state, will effectually pro- 
vide for the same. 

Though your commissioners could not, with propriety, address these 
observations and sentiments to any but the states they have the honor to 
represent, they have nevertheless concluded, from motives of respect, to 
transmit copies of this report to the United States, in Congress assembled, 
and to the executives of the other states. 

By order of the commissioners. 

Dated at Annapolis, September 14th, 1786. 



In Congress, Wednesday, February 21, 1787. — The report of a grand 
committee, consisting of Messrs. Dane, Varnum, S. M. Mitchell, Smith, 
Cadwallader, Irvine, N. Mitchell, Forrest, Grayson, Blount, Bull, and 
Few, to whom was referred a letter of the 14th September, 1786, from 
J. Dickinson, written at the request of commissioners from the states 
of Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, as- 
sembled at the city of Annapolis, together with a copy of the report of the 
said commissioners to the legislatures of the states by whom they were 
appointed, being an order of the day, was called up, and which is con- 
tained in the following resolution, viz. : — 

Congress having had under consideration the lette/ of John Dickinson, 
Esq., chairman of the commissioners who assembled at Annapolis, du- 
ring the last year ; also the proceedings of the said commissioners, and 
entirely coinciding with them, as to the inefficiency of the federal govern- 
ment, and the necessity of devising such further provisions as shall render 
the same adequate to the exigencies of the Union, do strongly recommend 
to the different legislatures to send forward delegates, to meet the proposed 
convention, on the second Monday in May next, at the city of Phila- 
delphia. 

The delegates for the state of New York thereupon laid before Con- 
gress instructions which they had received from their constituents, and in 
pursuance of the said instructions, moved to postpone the further consider- 
ation of the report, in order to take up the following proposition, viz. : — 

" That it be recommended to the states composing the Union, that a con- 
vention of representatives from the said states respectively, be held at , 

on , for the purpose of revising the articles of confederation and per- 
petual union between the United Slates of America, and reporting to the 
United States, in Congress assembled, and to the states respectively, such 
alterations and amendments of the said articles of confederation, as the 
representatives, met in such convention, shall judge proper and necessary 
to render them adequate to the preservation and support of the Union." 

On the question to postpone, for the purpose abovementioned, the yeas 
and nays being required by the delegates for New York, the question was 
lost by the following vote, three states only voting in the affirmative. The 
names of the members who voted in the affirmative are in italic. 
Massachusetts: Messrs. King, Dane ; Connecticut: Messrs. Johnson, S. 
Mitchell ; New York, Messrs. Smith, Benson ; New Jersey : Messrs, 
Cadwallader, Clark, Schureman ; Pennsylvajiia : Messrs. Irvine, Mere- 
dith, Bingham; Delaware: Mr. N.Mitchell; Maryland: Mr. Forrest; 
Virginia : Messrs. Grayson, Madison ; North Carolina : Messrs. 
Blount, Hawkins ; South Carolina : Messrs. Bull, Kean, Huger, Par- 
ker ; Georgia : Messrs. Few, Pierce. 



280 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 

A motion was then made by the delegates for Massachusetts, to post- 
pone the further consideration of the report, in order to take into con- 
sideration a motion which they read in their place ; this being agreed to, 
the motion of the delegates for Massachusetts was taken up, and being 
amended was agreed to, as follows : — 

" Whereas, there is provision in the articles of confederation and per- 
petual union, for making alterations therein, by the assent of a Congress 
of the United States, and of the legislatures of the several states ; and 
whereas, experience hath evinced that there are defects in the present 
confederation, as a mean to remedy which, several of the states, and par- 
ticularly the state of New York, by express instructions to their delegates 
in Congress, have suggested a convention for the purposes expressed in 
the following resolution ; and such convention appearing to be the most 
probable means of establishing, in these states, a firm national government: 

" Resolved, That, in the opinion of Congress, it is expedient that, on the 
second Monday in May next, a convention of delegates who shall have 
been appointed by the several states, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole 
and express purpose of revising the articles of confederation, and reporting 
to Congress, and the several legislatures, such alteration and provisions 
therein, as shall, when agreed to in Congress, and confirmed by the states, 
render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of the govern- 
ment, and the preservation of the Union." 

In compliance with the recommendation of Congress, delegates were 
chosen in the several states, for the purpose of revising the articles of con- 
federation, who assembled in Philadelphia, on the second Monday in May, 
1787. General Washington was chosen president of the convention. 
On the 17th of September, 1787, the convention having agreed upon the 
several articles of the federal constitution, it was adopted and signed by 
all the members present. 

On Friday, the 28lh of September, 1787, the Congress having received 
the report of the convention, with the constitution, recommended for rati- 
fication by the several states, and by Congress, adopted the following res- 
olution : — 

" Resolved, unanimously. That the said report, with the resolutions and 
letters accompanying the same, be transmitted to the several legislatures, 
in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each state 
by the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves of the convention, 
made and provided in that case." 

The constitution having been ratified by the number of states required, 
the following proceedings took place in the old Congress, preparatory to 
organizing the new government. 

Saturday, Septetnber, 13, 1788. — On the question to agree to the follow- 
ing proposition, it was resolved in the affirmative, by the unanimous votes 
of nine states, viz., of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. 

" Whereas, the convention assembled in Philadelphia, pursuant to the 
resolution of Congress, of the 21st of February, 1787, did, on the 1 7th of 
September, in the same year, report to the United States, in Congress as- 
sembled, a constitution for the people of the United States ; whereupon, 
Congress, on the 28th of the same September, did resolve unanimously, 
' that the said report, with the resolutions and letter accompanying the 
same, be transmitted to the several legislatures, in order to be submitted to 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 281 

a convention of delegates, chosen in each state by the people thereof, in 
conformity to the resolves of the convention, made and provided in that 
case ;' and whereas the constitution so reported by the convention, and by 
Congress transmitted to the several legislatures, has been ratified in the 
manner therein declared to be suflicient for the establishment of the same, 
and such ratifications, duly authenticated, have been received by Congress, 
and are filed in the office of the secretary, therefore — 

" Resolved, That the first Wednesday in January next be the day for 
appointing electors in the several slates which before the said day shall 
have ratified the said constitution ; that the first Wednesday in February 
next be the day for the electors to assemble in their respective states, and 
vote for a president ; and that the first Wednesday in March next be the 
time, and the present seat of Congress [New York] the place, for com- 
mencing proceedings under the said constitution." 



Delegates to the Convention which met at Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to 
frame a new Constitution. 

New Hampshire, on the 27th of June, 1787, appointed Joha Langdon, John Pick- 
ering, Nicholas Oilman, and Benjamin West. 

Massachusetts, on the 9th of April, 1787, appointed Francis Dana, Elbridge Gerry, 
Natlianiel Gorham, Rufus King, and Caleb Strong. 

Connecticut, on the second Thursday of May, 1786, appointed William Samuel 
Jolinson, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellsworth. 

New York, on the Gth of March, 1787, appointed Robert Yates, John Lansing, jr., 
and Alexander Hamilton. 

New Jersey, on the 23d of November, 1780, appointed David Brearly, William 
Churchill Houston, William Paterson, and John Neilson ; and on the 8th of May, 
1787, added William Livingston and Abraham Clark; and on the 5th of June, 1787, 
added Jonathan Dayton. 

Pennsylvania, on the 30th of December, 1786, appointed Thomas Mifflin, Robert 
Morris, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Thomas Pitzsimons, James Wilson, and 
Governeur Morris; and on the 28th of March, 1787, added Benjamin Franklin. 

Delaware, on the 3d of February, 1787, appointed George Read, Gunning Bedford, 
jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, and Jacob Broom. 

Maryland, on the 26th of May, 1787, appointed James M'Henry, Daniel of St. 
Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, John Francis Mercer, and Luther Martin. 

Virginia, on the 16th of October, 1786, appointed George Washington, Patrick 
Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, jr., George Mason, and 
George Wythe. Patrick Henry having declined his appointment as deputy, James 
M'Ciurgwas nominated to supply his place. 

North Carolina, in January, 1787, elected Richard Caswell, Alexander Martin, 
William Richardson Davie, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and Willie Jones. Richard Cas- 
well having resigned, William Blount was appointed a deputy in his place. Willie 
Jones having also declined his appointment, was supplied by Hugh Williamson. 

South Carolina, on the 8th of March, 1787, appointed John Rutledge, Charles 
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Pierce Butler. 

Georgia, on the 10th of February, 1787, appointed William Few, Abraham Bald- 
win, William Pierce, George Walton, William Houston, and Nathaniel Pendleton. 



Dates of the Ratification of the Constitution by the Thirteen Old States, 

Delaware December. ..7, 1787 South Carolina. ...May 23, 1788 

Pennsylvania December. .12, 1787 New Hampshire June 21, 1788 

New jersey December. .18, 1787 Virginia June 26, J788 

Georgia January 2, 1788 New York July 26, 1788 

Connecticut January 9, 1788 North Carolina November 21, 1789 

Massachusetts February. . .6, 1788 Rhode Island May 29, 1790 

Maryland April 28, 1788 



282 



COXGRESS AT ALBANY, 1754. 



States since admitted into the 

Vermont March 4, 1791 

Kentucky June 1, 1792 

Tennessee June 1, 1796 

Ohio February. . 19, 1803 

Louisiana April 8, 1812 

Indiana December..! 1, 1816 

Mississippi December.. 10, 1817 

Illinois December.. ..3, 1818 



Union hy acts of Congress. 

Alabama December 14, 1819 

Maine March .... 1 5, 1820 

Missouri August... 10, 1821 

Arkansas ; ..June 14, 1836 

Michi2;an January . . 26, 1837 

Florida March 3, 1845 

Texas Decembei'.24, 1845 

Iowa, 1846 Wisconsin, 1848 



CONGRESS AT ALBANY, 1754. 
The day appointed for the meeting of the commissioners, at Albany, in 
the state of New York, was the 14th of June, 1754, but they did not as- 
semble until the 19th of June, when it was found that seven colonies were 
represented, viz : — 



New York. 
James Delancy, 
Joseph Murray, 
William Johnson, 
John Chambers, 
William Smith. 

Massachusetts. 

Samuel Welles, 
John Chandler, 
Thomas Hutchinson. 
Oliver Partridge, 
John Worthington. 



Connecticut. 

William Pitkin, 
Roger Wolcott, 
Elisha Williams. 

Rhode Island. 

Stephen Hopkins, 
Martin HoAvard. 

Pennsylvania. 

John Penn, 
Benjamin Franklin, 
Richard Peters, 
Isaac Norris. 



Maryland. 

Benjamin Tasker, 
Abraham Barnes. 



New Hampshire. 
Theodore Atkinson, 
Richard Wibird, 
]\Ieshecli Weare, 
Henry Sherburne. 

The vvhole number of commissioners appointed was twenty-five, who 
all attended, as above named. Virginia and New Jersey, though ex- 
pressly invited, did not attend. 

Having completed a treaty with the Indians, the commissioners took 
up the subject of a plan of uni»n. A committee, consisting of one mem- 
ber from each colony, was appointed to draw a plan, viz. : Messrs. Hutch- 
inson of Massachusetts, Atkinson of New Hampshire, Pitkin of Con- 
necticut, Hopkins of Rhode Island, Smith of New York, Franklin of 
Pennsylvania, and Tasker of Maryland. 

Several plans were proposed, but an outline presented by Dr. Franklin, 
before he arrived in Albany, was preferred by the committee, and reported 
to the Congress on the 28th of June. The debates on the various topics 
embraced in the plan of union continued for twelve days, when the one 
reported, substantially as drawn by Doctor Franklin, was adopted ; and 
the Congress adjourned on the 11th of July. This scheme of general 
government received the assent of all the commissioners, except those 
from Connecticut. Indeed, Governor Hutchinson, in his history of Mas- 
sachusetts, says the vote was unanimous in the Congress ; but this is con- 
tradicted by the Connecticut historians. It was, however, to be of no 



CONGRESS AT NEW YORK, 1765. 283 

force unless confirmed by the several colonial assemblies — and not one of 
them, when the report was made by their delegates, inclined to part with 
so great a share of power as was to be given to this general government. 
The plan met with no better fate in England, where it was laid before the 
king and the board of trade. Doctor Franklin says: "The colonial as- 
semblies all thought there was too much prerogative in it, and in England 
it was thought to have too much of the de?nocratic in it." Considering 
the rejection by the two parties, for opposite reasons, it was Franklin's 
opinion, thirty years afterward, that his plan was near the true medium. 
It is remarkable how nearly the basis approaches the constitution of the 
United States.* 



CONGRESS AT NEW YORK, 1765. 
The proposal for holding a congress of delegates from the respective 
colonies, in consequence of the passage of the stamp act and other op- 
pressive measures of the British parliament, was made by the correspond- 
ing committee of the New York assembly (appointed in October, 1764), 
and was repeatedly agitated in the different colonial legislatures. In June, 
1765, the popular branch of the legislature of Massachusetts issued a cir- 
cular letter proposing " a meeting of committees from the house of repre- 
sentatives or burgesses of the several British colonies on this continent, 
to consult together on the circumstances of the colonies, and the difficulties 
to which they are and must be reduced by the operation of the acts of 
parliament, for levying duties and taxes on the colonies ; and to consider 
of a general and united, dutiful, loyal, and humble representation of their 
condition to his majesty and to the parliament, and to implore relief; also, 
that such meeting be at the city of New York, on the first Tuesday of Oc- 
tober next." In consequence of the circular letter referred to, the fol- 
lowing gentlemen met at New York, on the 7th of October, 1765, viz. :■ — 

Massachusetts. 



James Otis, 
Oliver Partridge, 
Timothy Ruggles. 

Rhode Island. 

Metcalf Bowler, 
Henry Ward. 

Connecticut. 

Eliphalet Dyer, 
David Rowland, 
William S. Johnson. 

New York. 

Robert R. Livingston, 
John Cruger, 
Pliilip Livinsfston, 
William Bayard, 
Leonard Lispenard. 



New Jersey. 
Robert Ogden, 
Hendrick Fisher, 
Joseph Borden. 
Pennsylvania. 
John Dickinson, 
John Morton, 
George Bryan, 

Delaware. 
Thomas M'Kean, 
Caesar Rodney. 

Maryland. 
William Murdock, 
Edward Tilghman, 
Thomas Ringgold. 
South Carolina. 
Thomas Lynch, 
Christopher Gadsden. 
John Rutledge. 



See Pitkin's Political History, and Franklin's Works. 



284 PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 

New Hampshire, Virgi?iia, North Carolina, and Georgia, were not rep- 
resented ; but their assemblies wrote that they would agree to whatever 
was done by the Congress. 

Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, was, by ballot, chosen chairman 
of the Congress, and John Cotton, clerk..* 

This Congress continued in session, from day to day, until the 24lh of 
October, 1765, and their proceedings were approved by all of the dele- 
gates, except Mr. Ruggles, of Massachusetts, and Mr. Ogden, of New 
Jersey, both of whom left New York without signing the address or peti- 
tions. The proceedings of the Congress were afterward sanctioned by 
the various colonial assemblies. 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 

Presidents of the Continental Congress, from 1774 to 1788. 

FROM ELECTED. 

Peyton Randolph Vircjinia September.. .5, 1774 

Henry Middleton South Carolina October. ..22, 1774 

Peyton Randolph Virijinia May 10, 1775 

John Hancock Massachusetts May 24, 1775 

Henry Laurens South Carolina November. . 1, 1777 

John Jay New York December 10, 1778 

Samuel Huntington Connecticut September 28, 1779 

Thomas M'Kean Delaware July 10, 1781 

John Hanson Maryland November.. 5, 1781 

Ellas Boiidinot New Jersey November.. 4, 1782 

Thomas Mifflin Pennsylvania November.. 3, 1783 

Richard Henry Lee Virginia November 30, 1784 

Nathaniel Gorham Massachusetts June 6, 17S6 

Arthur St. Clair Pennsylvania February. ..2, 1787 

Cyrus Griffin Virginia January. .22, 1788 

Sessions of the Continental Congress. ■ 

The sessions of the continental Congress were commenced as follows : 
September 5, 1774, also May 10, 1775, at Philadelphia ; December 20, 
1776, at Baltimore; March 4, 1777, at Philadelphia ; September 27, 
Mil, ?l\. Lancaster, Venn. ; September 30, 1777, at York, Penn. ; July 
2, 1778, at Philadelphia ; June 30, 1783, at Princeton, New Jersey ; No- 
vember 26, 1783, at Annapolis, Maryland ; November 1, 1784, at Trenton 
New Jersey ; January 11, 1785, at New York, which, from that time, 
continued to be the place of meeting till the adoption of the constitution 
of the United States. From 1781 to 1788, Congress met annually on the 
first Monday in November, pursuant to the articles of confederation. 

* Journal of the First American or Stamp- Act Congress, of 1765, published in Niles's 
Register, 1812, and by E. Winchester, New York, 1845. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPExNDENCE, 

JULY 4th, 1776. 



THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF 
AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitled them, 
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should de- 
clare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created equal ; 
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; 
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that, to 
secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their 
just powers from the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form 
of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the 
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its 
foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as 
to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Pru- 
dence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes ; and, accordingly, all experience 
hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are 
sufTerable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they 
are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, 
pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under 
absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such 
government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has 
been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The 
history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries 
and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute 
tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid 
world : — 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary 
for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing 
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be 



286 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

obtained ; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend 
to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large 
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of 
representation in the legislature — a right inestimable to them, and formi- 
dable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfort- 
able, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole 
purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with 
manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to 
be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have 
returned to the people at large for their exercise — the state remaining, in 
the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and 
convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states — for that 
purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass 
others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of 
new appropriations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent 
to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their 
offices and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of 
officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the 
consent of our legislatures. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, 
the civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our 
constitution and unacknowledged by our laws — giving his assent to their 
acts of pretended legislation. 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders 
which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states ; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world ; 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent; 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury ; 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences ; 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, 
establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, 
so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the 
same absolute rule into these colonies ; 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 287 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and 
altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments ; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested 
with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection 
and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and 
destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to 
complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with 
circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most bar- 
barous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to 
bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends 
and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored 
to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian ,savages, 
whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, 
sexes, and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the 
most humble terras. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by 
repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act 
which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We 
have warned them, from time to time, of attempts, by their legislature, 
to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have ap- 
pealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, 
by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which 
would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They, 
too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We 
must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separa- 
tion, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in 
peace, friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in 
general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World 
for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of 
the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these 
united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; 
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all 
political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as free and independent states, 
they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, estab- 
lish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent 



288 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 



States may of right do. And tor the support of this declaration, with a firm 
reUance on tne protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to 
each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 

The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed and 
signed by the following members : — 

JOHN HANCOCK. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

JOSIAH BaRTLETT, 

William Whipple, 
Matthew Thornton. 

MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 

Samuel Adams, 
John Adams, 
Robert Treat Paine, 
Elbridge Gerry. 

RHODE ISLAND. 

Stephen Hopkins, 
William Ellery. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Roger Sherman, 
Samuel Huntington, 
William Williams, 
Oliver Wolcott. 

NEW YORK. 
William Floyd, 
Philip Livingston, 
Francis Lewis, 
Lewis Morris. 



NEW JERSEY. 

Richard Stockton, 
John Witherspoon, 
Francis Hopkinson, 
John Hart, 
Abraham Clark. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Robert Morris, 
Benjamin Rush, 
Benjamin Franklin, 
John Morton, 
George Clymer, 
James Smith, 
George Taylor, 
James Wilson, 
George Ross. 

DELAWARE. 

C^sar Rodney, 
George Read, 
Thomas M'Kean. 

MARYLAND, 

Samuel Chase, 
William Paca, 



ThOxMas Stone, [ton 

Charles Carroll, of Carroll- 

VIRGINIA. 
George Wythe, 
Richard Henry Lee, 
Thomas Jefferson, 
Benjamin Harrison, 
Thomas Nelson, jr. 
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Carter Braxton, 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

William Hooper, 
Joseph Hevves, 
John Penn. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Edward Rutledge, 
Thomas Heyvvard, jr. 
Thomas Lynch, jr. 
Arthur Middleton. 

GEORGIA. 

Button Gwinnett, 
Lyman Hall, 
George Walton. 



SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 




ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, 
DELEGATES OF THE STATES AFFIXED TO OUR NAMES, SEND GREETING. 

Whereas, the delegates of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled did, on the fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, and in the second year 
of the independence of America, agree to certain articles of confederation 
and perpetual Union between the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts 
Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, and Georgia, in the words following, viz. : — 

Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New 
Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware ^ 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. 

Article 1. The style of this confederacy shall be, "The United States 
of America." 

Article 2. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independ- 
ence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this con- 
federation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. 

Article 3. The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league 
of friendship with each other for their common defence, the security of 
their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare ; binding themselves 
to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon 
them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any 
other pretence whatever. 

Article 4. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship, and 
intercourse among the people of the different states in this Union, the free 
inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from 
justice, excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free 
citizens in the several states ; and the people of each state shall have free 
ingress and regress to and from any other state, and shall enjoy therein 
all the privileges of trade and commerce subject to the same duties, im- 
positions, and restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided 
that such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of 
property imported into any state to any other state, of which the owner is 
an inhabitant ; provided also, that no imposition, duties, or restriction, 



294 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 

shall be laid by any state on the property of the United States or either 
of them. 

If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other high 
misdemeanor, in any state, shall flee from justice, and be found in any of 
the United States, he shall, upon demand of the governor or executive 
power of the state from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the 
state having jurisdiction of his offence. 

Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these states to the records, 
acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other 
stale. 

Article 5. For the more convenient management of the general interests 
of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner 
as the legislature of each state shall direct to meet in Congress on the 
first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each 
state to recall its delegates or any of them, at any time within the year, 
and to send others in their stead for the remainder of the year. 

No state shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor by 
more than seven members ; and no person shall be capable of being a 
delegate for more than three years in any term of six years ; nor shall any 
person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United 
States, for which he, or another for his benefit, receives any salary, fees, 
or emoluments of any kind. 

Each state shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the states, 
and while they act as members of the commitee of the states. 

In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, 
each state shall have one vote. 

Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or 
questioned in any court or place out of Congress ; and the members of 
Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprison- 
ments, during the time of their going to and from and attendance on Con- 
gress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. 

Article 6. No state, without the consent of the United States in Con- 
gress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, 
or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty, with any king, 
prince, or state ; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust 
under the United States, or any of them, accept of any present, emolument, 
ofiice or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state ; 
nor shall the United States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant 
any title of nobility. 

No two or more states shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or 
alliance whatever, between them, without the consent of the United States 
in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the 
same is to be entered into and how long it shall continue. 

No state shall lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with any 
stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in Congress as- 
sembled, with any king, prince, or state, in pursuance of any treaties al- 
ready proposed by Congress to the courts of France and Spain. 

No vessel-of-war shall be kept up in time of peace by any state, except 
such number only as shall be deemed necessary by the United States in 
Congress assembled for the defence of such state or its trade ; nor shall 
any body of forces be kept up by any state in time of peace, except such 
number only as in the judgment of the United States in Congress as- 



ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 295 

senibled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for 
the defence of such state ; but ev^ery state shall always keep up a well- 
regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and 
shall provide and have constantly ready for use, in public stores, a due 
number of field-pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammu- 
niiion, and camp equipage. 

No state shall engage in any war without the consent of the United 
States in Congress assembled, unless such state be actually invaded by 
enemies or shall have received certain advice of a resolution being formed 
by some nation of Indians to invade such state, and the danger is so im- 
minent as not to admit of a delay till the United States in Congress as- 
sembled can be consulted ; nor shall any state grant commissions to any 
ships or vessels-of-war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after 
a declaration of war by the United States in Congress assembled, and then 
only against the kingdom or state, and the subjects thereof, against which 
war has been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be estab- 
lished by the United States in Congress assembled, unless such state be 
infested by pirates, in which case vessels-of-war may be fitted out for that 
occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the United 
States in Congress assembled shall determine otherwise. 

Article 7. When land forces are raised by any state for the common 
defence, all officers of or under the rank of colonel, shall be appointed by 
the legislature of each, state respectively, by whom such forces shall be 
raised, or in such manner as such state shall direct, and all vacancies 
shall be filled up by the state which first made the appointment. 

Article 8. All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be 
incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the 
United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common 
treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states in proportion to the 
value of all land withiii each state granted to or surveyed for any person, 
as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estima- 
red according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled 
shall from time to time direct and appoint. 

The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the 
authority and direction of the legislatures of the several states, within the 
time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. 

Article 9. The United States in Congress assembled shall have the 
sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, ex- 
cept in the cases mentioned in the sixth article — of sending and receiving 
ambassadors — entering into treaties and alliances ; provided, that no treaty 
of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the respective 
states shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on 
foreigners as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the 
exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities what- 
soever — of establishing rules for deciding in all cases, what captures on 
land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or 
naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided or appro- 
priated — of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace — ap- 
pointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals 
in all cases of captures : provided, that no member of Congress shall be 
appointed a judge of any of the said courts. 



296 ARTICLKS OF CONFEDERATION. 

The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort 
on appeal in all disputes and difl'erences now subsisting or that hereafter 
may arise between two or more states concerning boundary, jurisdiction, 
or any other cause whatever ; which authority shall always be exercised 
in the manner following : whenever the legislative or executive authority 
or lawful agent of any state in controversy with another shall present a 
petition to Congress, stating the matter in question, and praying for a 
hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress to the legis- 
lative or executive authority of the other state in controversy, and a day 
assigned for the appearance of the parties, by their lawful agents, who 
shall then be directed to appoint by joint consent commissioners or judges 
to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question ; 
but if they can not agree, Congress shall name three persons out of each 
of the United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall 
alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning until the number shall 
be reduced to thirteen ; and from that number not less than seven nor 
more than nine names, as Congress shall direct shall, in the presence of 
Congress, be drawn out by lot ; and the persons whose names shall be so 
drawn, or any five of them, shall be commissioners or judges, to hear and 
finally determine the controversy, so always as a major part of the judges, 
who shall hear the cause, shall agree in the determination : and if either 
party shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons 
which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present shall refuse to 
strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three persons out of each 
state, and the secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf of such party 
absent or refusing ; and the judgment and sentence of the court to be ap- 
pointed in the manner before prescribed, shall be final and conclusive , 
and if any of the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority of such 
court, or to appear, or defend their claim or cause, the court shall never- 
theless proceed to pronounce sentence or judgment, which shall in like 
manner be final and decisive, the judgment or sentence and other proceed- 
ings, being in either case transmitted to Congress, and lodged among the 
acts of Congress for the security of the parties concerned : provided, that 
every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, to be 
administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior court of the 
state, where the cause shall be tried, " well and truly to hear and deter- 
mine the matter in question, according to the best of his judgment, without 
favor, affection, or hope of reward :" provided also, that no state shall be 
deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States. 

All controversies concerning the private right of soil, claimed under 
different grants of two or more states, whose jurisdiction as they may 
respect such lands and the states which passed such grants are adjusted, 
the said grants or either of them being at the same time claimed to have 
originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall, on the peti- 
tion of either party to the Congress of the United States, be finally deter- 
mined, as near as may be, in the same manner as is before prescribed for 
deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction between different 
states. 

The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and 
exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck 
by their own authority, or by that of the respective states — fixing the 
standard of weights and measures throughout the United States — regulating 



ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 297 

the trade and managing all affiiirs with the Indians not members of any of the 
states ; provided that the legislative right of any state within its own limits 
be not infringed or violated — establishing and regulating postoffices from 
one state to another throughout all the United States, and exacting such 
postage on the papers passing through the same, as may be requisite to 
defray the expenses of the said office — appointing all officers of the land 
forces in the service of the United States excepting regimental officers — 
appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and commissioning all 
officers whatever in the service of the United States — making rules for the 
government and regulation of the said land and naval forces, and directing 
their operations. 

The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to ap- 
point a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated " a 
committee of the states," and to consist of one delegate from each state ; 
and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be necessary 
for managing the general affairs of the United States, under their direc- 
tion — to appoint one of their number to preside, provided that no person 
be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any 
term of three years — to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be 
raised for the service of the United States, and to appropriate and apply 
the same for defraying the public expenses — to borrow money or emit 
bills on the credit of the United States, transmitting every half year to the 
respective states an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted 
— to build and equip a navy — to agree upon the number of land forces, and 
to make requisitions from each state for its quota, in proportion to the 
number of white inhabitants in such state ; which requisition shall be 
binding, and thereupon the legislature of each state shall appoint the regi- 
mental officers, raise the men, and clothe, arm, and equip them, in a soldier- 
like manner, at the expense of the United States ; and the officers and 
men so clothed, armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, 
and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled : 
but if the United States in Congress assembled, shall, on consideration of 
circumstances, judge proper that any state should not raise men or should 
raise a smaller number than its quota, and that any other state should raise 
a greater number of men than the quota thereof, such extra number shall 
be raised, officered, clothed, armed, and equipped, in the same manner as 
the quota of such state, unless the legislature of such state shall judge 
that such extra number can not safely be spared out of the same ; in which 
case they shall raise, officer, clothe, arm, and equip, as many of such 
extra number as they judge can be safely spared. And the officers 
and men so clothed, armed, and equipped, shall march to the place ap- 
pointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress 
assembled. 

The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, 
nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into 
any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof, 
nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the defence and wel- 
fare of the United States or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money 
on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon 
the number of vessels-of-war to be built or purchased, or the number of 
land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander-in-chief of the 
army or navy, unless nine states assent to the same ; nor shall a question 



298 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATIOJJ. 

on any other point, except for adjourning from day to day, be determined, 
unless by the votes of a majority of the United States in Congress as- 
sembled. 

The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any 
time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so that 
no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space of six 
months ; and shall publish the journal of their proceedings monthly, ex- 
cept such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances, or military operations, 
as in their judgment require secresy ; and the yeas and nays of the dele- 
gates of each state on any question shall be entered on the journal, when 
it is desired by any delegate ; and the delegates of a state, or any of them, 
at his or their request, shall be furnished with a transcript of the said 
journal, except such parts as are above excepted, to lay before the legis- 
latures of the several states. 

Article 10. The committee of the states, or any nine of them, shall be 
authorized to execute, in the recess of Congress, such of the powers of 
Congress as the United States in Congress assembled, by the consent of 
nine states, shall from time to time, think expedient to vest them with ; 
provided that no power be delegated to the said committee, for the exercise 
of which, by the articles of confederation, the voice of nine states in the 
Congress of the United States assembled is requisite. 

Article 11. Canada, acceding to this confederation, and joining in the 
measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to, all 
the advantages of this Union ; but no other colony shall be admitted into 
the same unless such admission be agreed to by nine states. 

Article 12. All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, and debts 
contracted, by or under the authority of Congress, before the assembling 
of the United States, in pursuance of the present confederation, shall be 
deemed and considered as a charge against the United States, for payment 
and satisfaction whereof the said United States and the public faith are 
hereby solemnly pledged. 

Article 13. Every state shall abide by the decision of the United 
States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by this confedera- 
tion, are submitted to them. And the articles of this confederation shall 
be inviolably observed by every state, and the Union shall be perpetual ; 
nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, un- 
less such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and 
be afterward confirmed by the legislature of every slate. 

And whereas it has pleased the great Governor of the world to incline 
the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to 
approve of and to authorize us to ratify the said articles of conlederation 
and perpetual Union : know ye, that we, the undersigned delegates, by 
virtue of the power and authority to us given for that purpose, do, by these 
presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective coaslituents, fully 
and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said articles of con- 
federation and perpetual Union, and all and singular the matters and things 
therein contained ; and we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith 
of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations 
of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by the 
said confederation, are submitted to them ; and that the articles thereof 
shall be inviolably observed by the states we respectively represent ; and 
that the Union be perpetual. 



ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 



299 



In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, in Congress 
Done at Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, the ninth day of July, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, 
and in the third year of the independence of America. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. Jonathan Batard Smith, 

JosiAH Bartlett, William Clingan, 

John Wentworth, jr. Joseph Reed. 

MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 
John Hancock, 
Samuel Adams, 
Elbridge Gerry, 
Francis Dana, 
James Lovell, 
Samuel Holten. 



RHODE ISLAND. 

William Ellery, 
Henry Marchant, 
John Collins. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Roger Sherman, 
Samuel Huntington, 
Oliver Wolcott, 
Titus Hosmer, 
Andrew Adams. 

NEW YORK. 
James Duane, 
Francis Lewis, 
William Duer, 

GOUVERNEUR MoRRIS. 

NEW JERSEY. 
John Witherspoon, 
Nath. Scudder. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Robert Morris, 
Daniel Rob£RD£aI7> 



DELAWARE. 

Thomas M'Kean, 
John Dickinson, 
Nicholas Van Dyke. 

MARYLAND, 
John Hanson, 
Daniel Carroll. 

VIRGINIA. 

Richard Henry Lee, 
John Banister, 
Thomas Adams, 
John Harvie, 
Francis Lightfoot Lee. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

John Penn, 
Constable Harnett, 
John Williams. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 
Henry Laurens, 
William Henry Drayton, 
John Matthews, 
Richard Hutson, 
Thomas Heyavard, jr. 

GEORGIA. 
John Walton, 
Edward Telfair, 
Edward Langwokthy. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, 

COPIED FROM, AND COMPARED WITH, THE ROLL IN THE DEPARTMENT 

OF STATE. 



We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, 
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the commou 
defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty 
to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution 
for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE I. 

Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and house 
of representatives. 

Section 2. The house of representatives shall be composed of mem- 
bers chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the 
electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of 
the most numerous branch of the state legislature. 

No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the 
age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in 
which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several 
states which may be included within this Union, according to their re- 
spective numbers,* which shall be determined by adding to the whole 
number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of 
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons. 
The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first 
meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent 
term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The num- 
ber of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand,! but 
each state shall have at least one representative ; and until such enumera- 
tion shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 
three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, 
Connecticut five. New York six. New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, 
Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten. North Carolina five, South 
Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

• The constitutional provision, that direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several 
states according to their respective numbers, to be ascertained by a census, was not intended 
to restrict the power of imposing direct taxes to states only. — Loughborough vs. Blake, 5 
Wheaton, 319. 

t See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 124; iii., 261 ; iv., 332. Acts of 17th Congress, 
Isl session, chap. x. ; and of the 22d and 27th Congress. 



302 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the exec- 
utive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. 

The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other offi- 
cers ; and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Section 3. The senate of the United States shall be composed of two 
senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years ; 
and each senator shall have one vote.* 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first 
election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. 
The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expira- 
tion of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth 
year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one 
third may be chosen every second year ; and if vacancies happen by resig- 
nation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the 
executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meet- 
ing of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 

No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of 
thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who 
shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall 
be chosen. 

The vice-president of the United States shall be president of the senate, 
but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro- 
tempore, in the absence of the vice-president, or when he shall exercise 
the office of president of the United States. 

I'he senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments : When 
sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the 
president of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall preside : And 
no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the 
members present. 

Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to re- 
moval from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
honor, trust or profit under the United States : but the party convicted 
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and 
punishment, according to law. 

Section 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for sen- 
ators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legisla- 
ture thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such 
regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meet- 
ing shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law 
appoint a diflerent day. 

Section 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and 
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute 
a quorum to do business , but a smaller number may adjourn from day to 
day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, 
in such manner, and under such penalties as each house may provide. 

Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings,! punish its 

• See art. v., clause 1. 

■f To an action of trespass against the sergeant-at-arms of the house of representatives 
of the United States for assault and battery and false imprisonment, it is a legal justifica- 
tion and bar to plead that a Congress was held and sitting during the period of the tres- 
passes complained, and that the house of representatives had resolved that the plaintiff had 
been guilty of a breach of the privileges of the house, and of a high contempt of the dignity 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 303 

members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, 
expel a member. 

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to 
time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment re- 
quire secresy ; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on 
any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered 
on the journal. 

Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the con- 
sent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place 
than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. 

Section 6. The senators and representatives shall receive a compen- 
sation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the 
treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, 
felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their at- 
tendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and re- 
turning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in either house, they 
shall not be questioned in any other place. 

No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was 
elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United 
States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall 
have been increased during such time ; and no person holding any office 
under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his con- 
tinuance in office. 

Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of 
representatives ; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments 
as on other bills. 

Every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives and the 
senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the president of the 
United States ; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, 
with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated, who 
shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to recon- 
sider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that house shall agree 
to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other 
house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two 
thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes 
of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of 
the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal 
of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the pres- 
ident within ten days (Sunday excepted) after it shall have been presented 
to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, un- 
less the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case 
it shall not be a law. 

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the senate 

and authority' of the same ; and had ordered that the speaker should issue his warrant to 
the sergeant-at-arms, commanding liim to take the plaintiff into custody wherever to be 
found, and to have him before the said house to answer to the said charge ; and that the 
spealver did accordingly issue such a warrant, reciting the said resolution and order, and 
commanding the sergeant-at-arms to take the plaintiff into custody, &c., and deliver the 
said warrant to the defendant : by virtue of which warrant the defendant arrested the plain- 
tiff, and conveyed him to the bar of the house, where he was heard in his defence touching 
the matter of said charge, and the examination being adjourned from day to day, and the 
house having ordered the plaintiff to be detained in custody, he was accordingly detained 
by the defendant until he was finally adjudged to be guilty and convicted of the charge 
aforesaid, and ordered to be forthwith brought to the bar and reprimanded by the speaker, 
and then discharged from custody, and after being thus reprimanded, was actually dis- 
charged from the arrest and custody aforesaid — Anderson vs. Dunn, 6 Wheaton, 204. 



304 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and house of representatives may be necessary (except on a question of 
adjournment) shall be presented to the president of the United States ; and 
before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being dis- 
approved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the senate and house 
of representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the 
case of a bill. 

Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes,* 
duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common 
defence and general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, imposts 
and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States ; 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several 
states, and wdth the Indian tribes ; 

To establish an uniform rule of naturalization,! and uniform laws on the 
subject of bankruptcies^ throughout the United States ; 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix 
the standard of weights and measures ; 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and cur- 
rent coin of the United States ; 

To establish postoffices and postroads ; 

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for lim- 
ited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective 
writings and discoveries ; 

To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court ; 

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, 
and offences against tjie law of nations ;|{ 

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules 
concerning captures on land and water ; 

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use 
shall be for a longer term than two years ; 

To provide and maintain a navy ; 

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval 
forces ; 

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, 
suppress insurrections and repel invasions ; 

* The power of Congress to lay and colled taxes, duties, &c., extends to the District of 
Columbia, and to the territories of the United States,- as well as to the states. — Loughboroxigh. 
vs. Blake, o Whcalon, 318. But Congress are not bound to extend a direct tax to the district 
and territories. — Id., 318. 

t Under the constitution of the United States, the power of naturalization is exclusively 
in Congress. — Chirac vs. Chirac, 2 Wheaton, 2.59. 

See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 30 ; ii., 261 ; iii., 71 j iii., 2SS ; iii., 400 ; iv., 564 ; 
vi., 32. 

X Since the adoption of the constitution of the United States, a state has authority to pass 
a bankrupt law, provided such law does not impair the obligation of contracts within the 
meaning of the constitution (art. i., sect. 10), and provided there be no act of Congress la 
force to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy conflicting with such law. — Sturgess vs. 
Crowninshield, 4 Wheaton, 122, 192. 

See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 368, sect. 2 : iii., 66 ; iii., 158. 

II The act of the 3d March, 1819, chap. 76, sect. 5, referring to the law of nations for a 
definition of the crime of piracy, is a constitutional exercise of the power of Congress to de- 
fine and punish that crime. — Ihiited States vs. Smith, 5 Wheaton, 153, 157. 

Congress have power to provide for the punislmient of oHences committed by persons on 
board a ship-of-war of the United States, wherever that ship may lie. But Congress have 
not exercised that power in the case of a ship lying in the waters of the United States, the 
words within fort, arsenal, dockyard, magazine, or in any otiier place or district of country 
under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United Slates, in the third section of the act of 
1790, chap. 9, not extending to a ship-of-war, but only to objects in their nature, fixed and 
territorial. — United States vs. Bevans, 3 Wheaton, is90. 



CONSTITUTION OF T'-IE UNITED STATES. 305 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for 
governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the 
United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the 
officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline 
prescribed by Congress ;* 

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such 
district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular 
states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government 
of the United States,! and to exercise like authority over all places pur- 
chased by the consent of the legislature of the state in vs^hich the same 
shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other 
needful buildings ; — And 

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into 
execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this con- 
stitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or 
officer thereof.]: 

Section 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the 
states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by 

• Vide amendments, art. ii. 

t Congress has authority to impose a direct tax on the District of Columbia, in propor- 
tion to the census directed to be taken by the constitution. — Loughborough, vs. Blake, 5 
Wheat 07), 311. 

But Congress are not bound to extend a direct tax to the district and territories. — Id., 322. 

The power of Congress to exercise exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever Vifithin 
the District of Columbia, includes the power of taxing it. — Id., 324. 

I Whenever the terms in which a power is granted by the constitution to Congress, or 
whenever the nature of the power itself requires that it should be exercised exclusively by 
Congress, the .•subject is as completely taken away from the state legislatures as if they had 
been expressly forbidden to act on it. — Sturgess vs. Crowninskield, 4 Wheaton, 193. 

Congress has power to incorporate a bank. — McCuHoch v,s. State of Maryland, 4 Wheaton, 
316. 

The power of establishing a corporation is not a distinct sovereign power or end of gov- 
ernment, but only the means of carrying into effect other powers which are sovereign. 
Whenever it becomes an appropriate means of exercising any of the powers given by the 
constitution to the government of the Union, it may be exercised by that government. — Id., 
411,421. 

If a certain means to carry into effect any of the powers expressly given by the constitu- 
tion to the government of the Union, be an appropriate measure, not prohibited by the 
constitution, the degree of its necessity is a question of legislative discretion, not of judi- 
cial cognizance. — Id. ,421. 

The act of the 19th April, 1816, chap. 44, to incorporate the subscribers to the bank of 
the United States, is a law made in pursuance of the constitution. — Id., 424. 

The bank of the United States has constitutionally a right to establish its branches or 
offices of discount and deposite within any state. — Id., 424. 

There is nothing in the constitution of the United States similar to the articles of confed- 
eration, which excludes incidental or implied powers. — Id., 403. 

If the end he legitimate, and within the scope of the constitution, all the meaTW which are 
appropriate, which arc plainly adapted to that end, and which are not prohibited, may con- 
stitutionally be employed to carry it into effect. — Id., 421. 

The powers granted to Congress are not exclusive of similar powers existing in the 
states, unless where the constitution has expressly in terms given an exclusive power to 
Congress, or the exercise of a like power is prohibited to the states, or there is a direct re- 
pugnancy or incompatibility in the exercise of it by the states. — Houston vs. Moo7-e, 5 Whea- 
to?}, 49. 

The example of the first class is to be found in the exclusive legislation delegated to Con- 
gress over places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same 
shall be for forts, arsenals, dockyards, &c. Of the second class, the prohibition of a state 
to coin money or emit bills of credit. Of the third class, the power to establish a uni- 
form rule of naturalization, and the delegation of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. 
—Id., 49. 

In all other classes of cases the states retain concurrent authority with Congress. — Id., 48. 

But in cases of concurrent authority, where the laws of the states and of the Union are 
in direct and manifest collision on the same subject, those of the Union being the supreme 
law of the land, are of paramount authority, and the state so far, and so far only as such 
incompatibility exists, must necessarily yield. — Id., 49. 

The state within which a branch of the United States bank may be established, can not, 
20 



306 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but 
a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dol- 
lars for each person. 

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may re- 
quire it. 

No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion 10 
the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. 

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue 
to the ports of one state over those of another : nor shall vessels bound to, 
or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. 

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of ap- 
propriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account of the 
receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time 
to time. 

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States : And no per- 
son holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the con- 
sent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of 
any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state. 

Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confedera- 
tion ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of 
credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the 
obligation of contracts,* or grant any title of nobility. 

without violating the constitution, tax that branch. — McCuUoch vs. State of Maryland, 4 
Wlieaton, 425. 

The state governments have no right to tax any of the constitutional means employed by 
the government of the Union to execute its constitutional powers. — /(/., 427. 

The states have no power by taxation, or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any 
manner control, the operation of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress, to carry into 
eflect the powers vested in the national government. — Id., 436. , 

This principle does not extend to a tax paid by the real property of the bank of the Uni- 
ted States, in common with the other real property in a particular state, nor to a tax im- 
posed on the proprietary which the citizens of that state may hold in common with the 
other property of the same description throughout the state. — Id., 436. 

* Where a law is in its nature a contract, where absolute rights have vested under that 
contract, a repeal of the law can not divest those rights. — Fletc/ier vs. Peck, 6 Crancli, 88. 

A party to a contract can not pronounce its own deed invalid, although that party be a 
SOverehj,n state. — Id., 88. 

A grant is a contract executed. — Id., 89. 

A law annulling conveyance is unconstitutional, because it is a law impairing the obliga- 
tion of contracts within the meaning of the constitution of the United States. — Id. 

The court will not declare a law to be unconstitutional, unless the opposition between the 
constitution and the law be clear and plain. — Id., 87. 

An act of the legislature of a state, declaring that certain lands which should be pur- 
chased for the Indians should not thereafter be subject to any tax, constituted a contract 
■which could not, after the adoption of the constitution of the United States, be rescinded 
by a subsequent legislative act ; such rescinding act being void under the constitution of the 
United States. — State of Neu- Jersey vs. Wilson, 7 Cranch, 164. 

The present constitution of the United States did not commence its operation until the 
first Wednesday in March, 1789, and the provision in the constitution, that " no state shall 
make any law impairing the obligation of contracts," does not extend to a state law enacted 
before that day, and operating upon rights of property vesting before that time. — Ouings vs. 
Speed, 5 Wheaton, 420,421. 

An act of a state legislature, which discharges a debtor from all liability for debts con- 
tracted previous to his discharge, on his surrendering his property for the benefit of his 
creditors, is a law impairing " the obligations of contracts," within the meaning oJ the con- 
stitution of the United States, so far as it attempts to discharge the contract ; and it makes 
no diti'erence in such a case, that the suit was brought in a state court of the state of which 
both the panics were citizens where the contract was made, and the discharge obtained, 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 307 

No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or 
duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for 
executing its inspection laws : and the net produce of all duties and im- 
posts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the 
treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the 
revision and control of the Congress. 

No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of ton- 
nage, keep troops, or ships-of-war in time of peace, enter into any agree- 
ment or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in 
war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit 
of delay. 

ARTICLE II. 

Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a president of the 
United States of America. He sliall hold his office during the term of 
four years,* and, together with the vice-president, chosen for the same 
term, be elected, as follows : 

Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may 
direct,! a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and 
representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress : but 
no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit 
under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 

[JThe electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two per- 
sons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with them- 
selves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of 
votes for each ; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat 
of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the senate. The 
president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representa- 
tives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person hav- 
ing the greatest number of votes shall be the president, if such number be a majority 
of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if there be more than one who have 
such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the house of representatives 
shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for president ; and if no person have 
a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said house shall in like manner 
choose the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by 
states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose 
shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majoi'ity of 

and where they continued to reside until the suit was brought. — Farmers and Mechanics' 
Bank vs. Smith, 6 Wheaton, 13]. 

The act of New York, passed on the 3d of April, ISII (which not only liberates the per- 
son of the debtor, but discharges him from all liability for any debt contracted previous to 
his discharge, on his surrendering his property in the manner it prescribes), so far as it at- 
tempts to discharge the contract, is a law impairing the obligation of contracts within the 
meaning of the constitution of the United States, and is not a good plea in bar of an action 
brought upon such contract. — Sturgess vs. Crowninshield, 4 Wheaton, 122, 197. 

Statutes of limitation and usury laws, unless retroactive in their effect, do not impair the 
obligation of contracts, and are constitutional. — Id., 206. 

A state bankrupt or insolvent law (which not only liberates the person of the debtor, but 
discharges him from all liability for the debt) , so far as it attempts to discharge the con- 
tract, is repugnant to the constitution of the IJnited States, and it makes no difference in 
the application of this principle, whether the law was passed before or after the debt was 
contracted.— McM^/ton vs. McNeill, 4 Wheaton, 209. 

The charter granted by the British crown to the trustees of Dartmouth college, in New 
Hampshire, in the year 1769, is a contract within the meaning of that clause of the consti- 
tution of the United States (art. i., sect. 10) which declares, that no state shall make any 
law impairing the obligations of contracts. The charter was not dissolved by the revolu- 
tion. — Collate vs. WooMtd, 4 Wheaton, 51S. 

An act of the state legislature of New Hampshire, altering the charter of Dartmouth col- 
lege in a material respect, without the consent of the corporation, is an act impairing the 
obligation of the charter, and is unconstitutional and void. — Id., 618. 

• See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 12. 

f See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109 % Vide amendments, art. xii. 



308 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the 
president, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the 
vice-president. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the 
senate shall choose from them by ballot the vice-president.*] 

The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors,! and 
the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be the 
same throughout the United States 4 

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, 
at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office 
of president ; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall 
not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a 
resident within the United States. 

In case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, resig- 
nation,'^ or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, 
the same shall devolve on the vice-president, and the Congress may by 
law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both 
of the president and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then act 
as president, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be 
removed, or a president shall be elected. || 

The president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compen- 
sation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period 
for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that 
period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them. 

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the follow- 
ing oath or affirmation : — " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that 1 will 
faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to 
the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the 
United States." 

Section 2. The president shall be commander-in-chief of the army and 
navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when 
called into the actual service of the United States ;T[ he may require the 
.opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive depart- 
ments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, 
and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against 
the United States, except in cases of impeachment. 

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, 
to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur ; and 
he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the senate, 
shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of 
the supreme court, and all other officers of the United States, whose ap- 
pointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be es- 

• This clause is annulled. See amendments, art. xil. 

t See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 104, sect. 1. 

i See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 2. 

§ See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 104, sect. 11. 

II See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 9 ; and vol. iii., chap. 403. 

ir The act of the state of Pennsylvania, of the 2feth March, 1814 (providing, sect. 21 , that 
the officers and privates of the militia of that state neglecting or refusing to serve when 
called into actual service, in pursuance of any order or requisition of the president of the 
United States, shall be liable to the penalties defined in the act of Congress of 2Sth Febru- 
ary, 1795, chap. 277, or to any penaltj"^ which may have been prescribed since the date of 
that act, or which may hereafter be prescribed by any law of the United States, and also 
providing for the trial of such delinquents by a state court-martial, and that a list of the 
delinquents fined by such court should be furnished to the marshal of the United States, 
&c. ; and also to the comptroller of the treasury of the United States, in order that the fur- 
ther proceedings directed to be had thereon by the laws of the United States might be com- 
pleted), is not repugnant to the constitution and laws of the United States. — Houston vs. 
Moore, 5 Wfieaton, 1, 12. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 309 

tablished by law : but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of 
such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the president alone, in the 
courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 

The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen 
during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions which shall ex- 
pire at the end of their next session. 

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress informa- 
tion of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such 
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on extra- 
ordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case 
of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, 
he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; he shall re- 
ceive ambassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the^ 
laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the 
United States. 

Section 4. The president, vice-president and all civil officers of the 
United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and con- 
viction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in 
one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from 
time to time ordain and establish.* The judges, both of the supreme and 
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at 
stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be 
diminished during their continuance in office. f 

Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and 
equity, arising under this constitution, the laws of the United States, and 
treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; — to all cases 
affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls ; — to all cases 
of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; — to controversies to which the 
United States shall be a party ; — to controversies between two or more 
states ; — between a state and citizens of another state ; — between citizens 
of different states,;]: — between citizens of the same state claiming lands 
under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, 
and foreign states, citizens or subjects.^ 

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, 
and those in which a state shall be party, the supreme court shall have 
original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme 
court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such 
exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.|| 

• Congress may constitutionally impose upon the judges of the supreme court of the Uni- 
ted States the burden of holding circuit courts. — Stuart vs. Laird, 1 Cranch, 299. 
f See laws of the United States, vol. ii., chap. 20. 

I A citizen of the District of Columbia is not a citizen of a state within the meaning of 
the constitution of the United States. — Hepburn et al vs. Ellzey, 2 Cranch, 445. 

§ The supreme court of the United States has not power to issue a mandamus to a secre- 
tary of state of the United States, it being an exercise of original jurisdiction not warralited 
by the constitution, notwithstanding the act of Congress. — Marbury vs. Madison, 1 Cranch, 
137. 

See a restriction of this provision. — Amendments, art. xi. 

II The appellate jurisdiction of the supreme court of the United States extends to a final 
judgment or decree in any suit in the highest court of law, or equity of a state, where is 
drawn in question the validity of a treaty, &c. — Martin vs. Hunter's lessee, 1 IVheaton, 304. 

Such judgment, &c., may be re-examined by writ of error, in the same manner as if ren- 
dered in a circuit court. — Id. 
If the cause has been once remanded before, and the state court decline or refuse to caiTy 



310 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by 
jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall 
have been committed ; but when not committed within any state, the trial 

into effect the mandate of the supreme court thereon, this court wUl proceed to a final de- 
cision of the same, and award execution thereon. 

Qtiere. — Whether this court has authority to issue a mandamus to the state court to en- 
force a former judgment ? — Id., 3G2. 

If the validity or construction of a treaty of the United States is drawn in question, and 
the decision is against its validity, or the title specially set up by either party under the 
treaty, this court has jurisdiction to ascertain that title, and determine its legal validity, 
and is not confined to the abstract construction of the treaty itself — Id., 362. 

Quere. — Whether the courts of the United States have jurisdiction of oflences at common 
law against the United States ? — United States vs. Coolidgc, 1 Wheaton, 415. 

The courts of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction of all seizures made on land 
or water for a breach of the laws of the United States, and any intervention of a state au- 
thority, which by taking the thing seized out of the hands of the United States' officer, 
might obstruct the exercise of this jurisdiction, is illegal. — Slocum vs. Mayberry et al, 2 
Wheaton, 1,9. 

In such a case the court of the United Stales have cognizance of the seizure, may enforce 
a redelivery of the thing by attachment or other summary process. — Id., 9. 

The question under such a seizure, whether a forfeiture has been actually incurred, be- 
longs exclusively to the courts of the United States, and it depends upon the final decree 
of such courts, whether the seizure is to be deemed rightful or tortuous. — Id., 9, 10. 

If the seizing officer refuse to institute proceedings to ascertain the forfeiture, the district 
court may, on aj)plication of the aggrieved party, compel the officer to proceed to adjudica- 
tion, or to abandon the seizure. — Id., 10. 

The jurisdiction of the circuit court of the United States extends to a case between citi- 
zens of Kentucky, claiming lands exceeding the value of five hundred dollars, under differ- 
ent grants, the one issued by the state of Kentucky, and the other by the state of Virginia, 
upon warrants issued by Virginia, and locations founded thereon, prior to the separation of 
Kentucky from Virginia. It is the grant which passes the legal title to the land, and if the 
controversy is founded upon the conflicting grants of ditierent states, the judicial power of 
the courts of the United States extends to the case, whatever may have been the equitable 
title of the parties prior to the grant. — Colson et al vs. Lewis, 2 Wheaton, 377. 

Under the judiciary of 17&9, chap. 20. sect. 25, giving appellate jurisdiction to the supreme 
court of the tlnited States, from the final judgment or decree of the highest court of law or 
equity of a state, in certain cases the writ of error may be directed to any court in which 
the record and judgment on which it is to act may be found ; and if the record has been re- 
mitted by the highest court, &c., to another court of the state, it may be brought by the 
writ of error from that cour!. — Gclston vs. Hoyt, 3 JVheaton, 246, 303. 

The remedies in the courts of the United States at common law and in equity are to be, 
not according to the practice of state courts, but according to the principles of common law 
and equity as defined in England. This doctrine reconciled with the decisions of the courts 
of Tennessee, permitting an equitable title to be asserted in an action at law. — Robinson vs. 
Campbell, 3 Wheaton, 221. 

Remedies in respect to real property, are to be pursued according to the lex loci rei sitae. 
—Id., 219. 

The courts of the United Slates have exclusive cognizance of questions of forfeiture upon 
all seizures made under the laws of the United States, and it is not competent for a state 
court to entertain or decide such question of forfeiture. If a sentence of condemnation be 
definitively pronounced by the proper court of the United States, it is conclusive that a for- 
feiture is incurred ; if a sentence of acquittal, it is equally conclusive against tlie forfeiture, 
and in either case the question can not be again litigated in any common law for ever. — Gel- 
ston vs. Hoyt, 3 Wheaton, 246, 311. 

Where a seizure is made for a supposed forfeiture under a law of the United States, no 
action of trespass lies in any common-law tribunal, until a final decree is pronounced upon 
the proceeding in rem to enforce such forfeiture : for it depends upon the final decreee of 
the court proceeding in rem, whether such seizure is to be deemed rightful or tortuous, and 
the action, if brought before such decree is made, is brought too soon. — Id., 313. 

If a suit be brought against the seizing officer for the supposed trespass while the suit 
for the forfeiture is depending, the fact of such pending may he pleaded in abatement, or as 
a temporary bar of the action. If after a decree of condemnation, then that fact may be 
pleaded as a bar : if after an acquittal with a certificate of reasonable cause of seizure, then 
that may be pleaded as a bar. If after an acquittal without such certificate, then the officer 
is without any justification for the seizure, and it is definitively settled to be a tortuous act. 
If to an action "of trespass in a state court for a seizure, the seizing officer plead the fact of 
forfeiture in his defence without averring a lis pendens, or a condeumation, or an acquittal, 
with a certificate of reasonable cause of seizure, the plea is bad : for it attempts to put in 
issue the question of forfeiture in a state court. — Id., 314. 

Supposing that the third article of the constitution of the United States which declares, 
that " the judicial power shall extend to all ca.ses of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction" 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 311 

shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have di- 
rected.* 

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in 

vested in the United States exclusive jurisdiction of all such cases, and that a murder com- 
mitted in the waters of a state where the tide ebbs and flows, is a case of admiralty and 
maritime jurisdiction ; yet Congress have not, in the Sth section of the act of 1790, chap. 9, 
" for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States,'' so exercised this power, 
as to confer on the courts of the United States jurisdiction over such murder. — United States 
vs. Bevans, 3 Wheaton, 336, 387. 

Quere. — Whether courts of common law have concurrent jm-isdiction with the admiralty 
over murder committed in bays, &c., which are enclosed parts of the sea? — Id., 387. 

The grant to the United States in the constitution of all cases of admiralty and maritime 
jurisdiction, does not extend to a cession of the waters in which those cases ma}' arise, or 
of general jurisdiction over the same. Congress may pass all laws which are necessary for 
giving the most complete effect to the exercise of the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction 
granted to the government of the Union ; but the general jurisdiction over the place subject 
to this grant, adheres to the territory as a portion of territory not yet given away, and the 
residuary powers of legislation still remain in the state. — Id., 389. 

The supreme court of the United States has constitutionally appellate jurisdiction under 
the judiciary act of 1789, chap. 20, sect. 25, from the final judgment or decree of the highest 
court of law or equity of a state having jurisdiction of the subject mailer of the suit, where 
is drawn in question the validity of a treaty or statute of, or an authority exercised under, 
the United States, and the decision is against their validity : or where is drawn in question 
the validity of a statute of, or an authority exercised under any state, on the ground of their 
being repugnant to the constitution, treaties, or laws of the United States, and the decision 
is in favor of such their validity : or of the constitution, or of a treaty, or statute of, or com- 
mission held under the United States, and the decision is against the title, right, privilege, 
or exemption, specially set up or claimed by either party under such clause of the constitu- 
tion, treatj', statute, or commission. — Cohois vs. Virginia, 6 Wheaton, 264, 375. 

It is no objection to the exercise of this appellate jurisdiction, that one of the parties is a 
state, and the other a citizen of that state. — Id. 

The circuit courts of the Union have chancery jurisdiction in every state : they have the 
same chancery powers, and the same rules of decision in equity cases, in all the states. — 
United States vs. Houiand, 4 Wheaton, 108, 115. 

Resolutions of the legislature of Virginia of 1810, upon the proposition from Pennsylvania 
to amend the constitution, so as to provide an impartial tribunal to decide disputes be- 
tween the state and federal judiciaries. — Note to Cohens vs. Virginia. Notes 6 Wheaton, 358. 

Where a cause is brought to this court by writ of error, or appeal from the highest court 
of law, or equity of a state, under the 25th section of the judiciary act of 1789, chap. 20, 
upon the ground that the validity of a statute of the United States was drawn in question, 
and that the decision of the state court was against its validity, &c., or that the validity of 
the statute of a state was drawn in question as repugnant to the constitution of the United 
States, and the decision was in favor of its validity, it must appear from the record, that the 
act of Congress, or the constitutionality of the state law, was drawn in question. — Miller vs. 
Nicholls, 4 Wheaton, 311, 315. 

But it is not required that the record should in terms state a misconstruction of the act 
of Congress, or that it was drawn into question. It is sufficient to give this court jurisdic- 
tion of the cause, that the record should show that an act of Congress was applicable to the 
case.— I'/., 315. 

The supreme court of the United States has no jurisdiction under the 2oth section of the 
judiciary act of 1789, chap. 20, unless the judgment or decree of the state court be a final 
judgment or decree. A judgment reversing that of an inferior court, and awarding a venire 
Jacias de novo, is not a final judgment. — Houston vs. Moore, 3 Wheaton, 433. 

By the compact of 1802, settling the boundary line between Virginia and Tennessee, and 
the laws made in pursuance thereof, it is declared that all claims and titles to land derived 
from Virginia, or North Carolina, or Tennessee, which have fallen into the respective states, 
shall remain as secure to the owners thereof, as if derived from the government within whose 
boundary they have fallen, and shall not be prejudiced or affected by the establishment of 
the line. Where the titles of both the plaintilT and defendant in ejectment were derived 
under grant from Virginia to lands which fell within the limits of Tennessee, it was held 
that a prior settlement right thereto, which would in equity give the party a title, could not 
be asserted as a sufficient title in an action of ejectment brought in the circuit court of Ten- 
nessee. — Robinson vs. Campbell, 3 Wheaton, 212. 

Although the state courts of Tennessee have decided that, under their statutes (declaring 
an elder grant founded on a junior entry to be void), a junior patent, founded on a prior en- 
try, shall prevail at law against a senior patent founded on a junior entry, this doctrine has 
never been extended beyond Cases within the express provision of the statute of Tennessee, ■ 
and could not apply to titles deriving all their validity from the laws of Virginia, and con- 
firmed by the compact between the two states. — Id., 212. 

• See amendments, art vi. 



312 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid 
and comfort. 

No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two 
witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. 

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, 
but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture ex- 
cept during the life of the person attainted.* 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the pub- 
lic acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. f And the 
Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, 
records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.^ 

Section 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges 
and immunities of citizens in the several states. 

A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who 
shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of 
the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to 
be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. 

No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof 
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. 

Section 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union ; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction 
of any other state ; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more 
states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states 
concerned as well as of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules 
and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the 
United States ; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to 
prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state. 

Section 4. The United States shall guaranty to every state in this 
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion ; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive 
(when the legislature can not be convened) against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V. 
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it neces- 
sary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the application 
of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a conven- 
tion for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all 
intents and purposes, as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legis- 
latures of three fourths of the several stales, or by conventions in three 
fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be pro- 
posed by the Congress ; provided that no amendment which may be made 

• See laws of the United States, vol. ii., chap. 36. 

t A judgment of a state court has the same credit, validity, and effect, in every other court 
■within the United States, which it had in the court where it was rendered ; and whatever 
picas would bo good to a suit thereon in such state, and none others can be pleaded in any 
other court within the United States. — Hampton vs. McConncU, 3 IVheaton, 234. 

The record of a judgment hi one state is conclusive evidence in another, although it ap- 
pears that the suit in which it was rendered, was commenced by an attachment of property, 
the defendant having afterward appeared and taken defence. — Mayhew vs. Thacker, (i Whea^ 
ton, 129. 

I See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 38 ; and vol. iii., chap. 409. 



# 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



313 



prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any man- 
Tier affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first arti- 
cle ; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal 
suffrage in the senate.* 

ARTICLE VI. 

All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption 
of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this 
constitution, as under the confederation. 

This constitution, and the lavv^s of the United States which shall be made 
in pursuance thereof ; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, un- 
der the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ;t 
and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the con- 
stitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. | 

The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members 
of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial oflicers, both 
of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or 
affirmation, to support this constitution ;§ but no religious test shall eA'er 
be required as a quahfication to any office or public trust under the United 
States. 

ARTICLE VIL 
The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the 
establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the same. 
Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present, the 
seventeenth day of September, in the year of our liOrd one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-seven and of the independence of the United 
States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto 
subscribed our names. 

Go. Washington, 
President, and deputy from Virginia. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 
Benjamin Franklin, 
Thomas Mifflin, 
Robert Morris, 
George Clymer, 
Thomas Fitzsimons, 
Jared Ingersoll, 
James Wilson, 
Gouverneur Morris. 
DELAWARE. 
George Reed, 
Gunning Bedford, jr., 
John Dickinson, 
Richard Bassett, 
Jacob Broom. 

MARYLAND. 
James M'Henry, 
Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer, 
Daniel Carroll. 

William Jackson, Secretary. 
• See ante art. i., sect. 3, clause 1. 

t An act of Congress repugnant to the constitution can not become a Is.^ .—Marbury vs. 
Madison, 1 Cranch, 176. 

t The courts of the United States are bound to take notice of the constitution.— AfarfewrJi 
;. Madison, 1 Cranch, 178. " 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
John Langdon, 
Nicholas Oilman. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Nathaniel Gorham. 
RuFus King. 

CONNECTICUT. 

William Samuel Johnson, 
Roger Sherman. 

NEW YORK. 
Alexander Hamilton. 

NEW JERSEY. 
William Livingston, 
David Brearley, 
W'illiam Paterson, 
Jonathan Dayton. 

Attest : 



VIRGINIA. 

John Blair, 
James Madison, jr. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

William Blount, 
Richard Dobbs Spaight, 
Hugh Williamson. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 
John Rutledge, 
Charles 0. Pinckne\ 
Charles Pinckney 
Pierce Butler. 

GEORGIA. 

William Few, 
Abraham Baldwin. 




§ See laws of the United States, vol. ii., chap. 1. 



314 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



AMENDMENTS* 

TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, RATIFIED ACCORDING 10 
THE PROVISIONS OF THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE FOREGOING CONSTI- 
TUTION. 

Article the first. Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- 
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging 
the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peacea- 
bly to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 

Article the second. A well-regidated militia, being necessary to the 
security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms^ shall 
not be infringed. 

Article the third. No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in 
any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in a time of war, but in 
a manner to be prescribed by law. 

Article the fourth. The right of the people to be secure in their 
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and 
seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon prob- 
able cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing 
the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

Article the fifth. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, 
or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a 
grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the 
militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger ; nor shall 
any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of 
life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness 
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due 
process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, with- 
out just compensation. 

Article the sixth. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall en- 
joy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state 
and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district 
shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the 
nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his fa- 
vor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence. 

Article the seventh. In suits at common law, where the value in 
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be 
preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in 
any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common 
law.f 

Article the eighth. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor exces- 
sive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

* Congress, at its first session, begun and held in the city of New York, on Wednesday, 
the 4th of March, 17b9, proposed to the legislatures of the several states twelve amend- 
ments to the constitution, ten of which, only, were adopted. 

t The act of assembly of Maryland, of 1793, chap. 30, incorporating the bank of Colum- 
bia, and giving to the corporation a summary process by execution in the nature of an at- 
tacliment against its debtors who have, by an express consent in writing, made the bonds, 
bills, or notes, by them drawn or endorsed, negotiable at the bank, is not repugnant to the 
constitution of the United States or of Maryland. — Bmik of Columbia vs. Okely, 4 Whcaton, 
236, 249. 

But the last provision in the act of incorporation, which gives this summary process to 
the bank, is no part of its corporate franchise and may be repealed or altered at pleasure 
by the legislative will. — Id., 245. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 315 

Article the ninth. The enumeration in the constitution, of certain 
rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the 
people. 

Article the tenth. The powers not delegated to the United States, 
by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the 
states respectively, or to the people.* 

Article the eleventh.! The judicial power of the United States shall 
not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or 
prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, 
or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state. 

Article the twelfth. :|: The electors shall meet in their respective 
states, and vote by ballot for president and vice-president, one of whom, 
at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they 
shall name in their ballots the person voted for as president, and in distinct 
ballots the person voted for as vice-president, and they shall make distinct 
lists of all persons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as 
vice-president, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall 
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the 
United States, directed to the president of the senate ;^ — the president of 
the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representa- 
tives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted ; — the 
person having the greatest number of votes for president, shall be the pres- 
ident, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors ap- 
pointed ; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons hav- 
ing the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for 
as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately, by 
ballot, the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be 
taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote ; a 
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two 

* The powers granted to Congress are not exclusive of similar powers existing in the 
states, unless where the constitution has expressly in terms given an exclusive power to 
Congress, or the exercise of a like power is prohibited to the states, or there is a direct re- 
pugnancy or incompatibility in the exercise of it by the states. — Houston vs. Moore, 5 Whea. 
ton, 1, 12. 

The example of the first class is to be found in the exclusive legislation delegated to Con- 
gress over places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same 
shall be for forts, arsenals, dockyards, &c. Of the second class, the prohibition of a state 
to coin money or emit bills of credit. Of the third class, the power to establish a uniform 
rule of naturalization, and the delegation of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. — Id., 49. 

In all other classes of cases, the states retain concurrent authority with Congress. — Id. 49. 

But in cases of concurrent authority, where the laws of the states and the Union are in 
direct and manifest collision on the same subject, those of the Union being the supreme law 
of the land are of paramount authority, and the state laws so far, and so far only as such 
incompatibility exists, must necessarily yield. — Id., 49. 

There is nothing in the constitution of the United States similar to the articles of confed- 
eration, which excludes incidental or implied powers. — McCulloch\s. State of Maryland, 4 
Wheaton, 406. 

If the end be legitimate, and within the scope of the constitution, all the means which are 
appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, and which are not prohibited, may con- 
sti'.utionally be employed to carry it into effect. — Id., 421. 

The act of Congress of 4th May, 1S12, entitled, " An act further to amend the charter of 
the city of Washington,"' which provides (sect. 6) that the corporation of the city shall be 
empowered for certain purposes and under certain restrictions, to authorize the drawing of 
lotteries, does not extend to authorize the corporation to force the sale of the tickets in such 
lottery in states where such sale may be prohibited by the state laws. — Cohens vs. Virginia, 
6 Wheaton, 264, 375. 

f This amendment was proposed at the first session of the third Congress. See ante art. 
iii.. sect. 2, clause 1. 

f Proposed at the first session of the eighth Congress. See ante art. ii., sect. 1, clause 3- 
Annulled by this amendment. 

§ See laws of the United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 5. 



316 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to 
a choice. And if the house of representatives shall not choose a presi- 
dent whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 
fourth day of March next following, then the vice-president shall act as 
president, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of 
the president. The person having the greatest number of votes as vice- 
president, shall be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then 
from the two highest numbers on the list, the senate shall choose the vice- 
president ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole 
number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary 
to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of pres- 
ident shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States. 

Note. — Another amendment was proposed as article xiii., at the second session of the 
eleventh Congress, but not having been ratified by a sufficient number of states, has not yet 
become valid as a part of the constitution of the United States. It is erroneously given as 
a part of the constitution, in page 74, vol i., laws of the United States. 



I have examined and compared the foregoing print of the constitution of the United States, 
and the amendments thereto, with the rolls in this office, and find it a faithful and literal 
copy of the said constitution and amendments, in the text and punctuation thereof. It ap- 
pears that the first ten amendments, which were proposed at the first session of the first 
Congress of the United States, were finally ratified by the constitutional number of states, 
on the 15th day of December, 1791 ; that the eleventh amendment, which was proposed at 
the first session of the third Congress, was declared, in a message from the president of the 
United States to both houses of Congress, dated Sth January, 1798, to have been adopted by 
three fourths, the constitutional number of states ; and that the twelfth amendment, which 
was proposed at the first session of the eighth Congress, was adopted by three fourths, the 
constitutional number of states, in the year one thousand eight hundred and four, according 
to a public notice thereof, by the secretary of state, under date the 25th of September, of the 
same year. 

Daniel Brent, Chief Clerk. 

Department of State, Washington, 25th Feb., 1S28. 

*,* For history of the formation of the constitution, the declaration of independence, and 
the articles of confederation, see vol. ii., end of the messages. 



SUCCESSIVE ADMINISTRATIONS FROM 1797 TO 1846 317 



SUCCESSIVE ADMINISTRATIONS, FROM 1789 TO 1846. 

FIRST ADMINISTRATION— 1789 to 1797.— eight years. 

President : George Washington, Virginia. 
Vice-President : John Adams, Massachusetts. 

Secretaries of State : Thomas Jefferson, ol" Va., Sept. 26, 1789 ; Edmund Ran- 
dolph, of Va., Jan. 2, 1794; Timothy Pickering, of Pa., Dec. 10, 1795. 

Secretaries of the Treasury: Alexander Hamilton, of New York, Sept. 11, 
1789 ; Oliver Wolcott, of Conn., Feb. 3, 1795. 

Secretaries of War: Henry Knox, of Mass., Sept. 12, 1789; Timothy Picker- 
ing, of Mass., Jan. 2, 1795; James M'Henry, of Md., Jan. 27. 1796. 

Secretaries of the Navy : No navy department during this administration. 
Postmasters-General : Samuel Osgood, of Mass., Sept. 26, 1789 ; Timothy Pick- 
ering, of Mass., Nov. 7, 1794; Joseph Habersham, of Ga., Feb. 25, 1795. 
Years. Expenditures. Public Debt. Total. 

1789— The expenditures from 4th March, 1789, to 31st December, 1791, are 
1790 included in 1791. 

$5,285,949 50 $7,207,539 02 

7,263,655 99 9,141,569 67 

5,819,505 29 7,529,575 55 

5,801,578 09 9,302,124 74 

6,084,411 61 10,435,069 65 

5,835,846 44 8,367,776 84 



1791 


$1,921,589 52 


1792 


1,877,913 68 


1793 


1,710,070 26 


1794 


3,500,.546 65 


1795 


4,350,658 04 


1796 


2,531,930 40 




$15,892,708 55 



$36,090,946 92 $51,983,655 47 



SECOND ADMINISTRATION— 1797 to 1801.— four years. 

President : John Adams, Massachusetts. 

Vice-President : Thomas Jefferson, Virginia. 

Secretaries of State : Timothy Pickering, continued in office ; John Marshall, 
of Va., May 13, 1800. 

Secretaries of the Treasury : Oliver Wolcott continued in office ; S. De.xter, 
of Mass., Dec. 31, 1800. 

Secretaries of War : James M'Henry continued in office ; S. Dexter, of Mass.. 
May 13, 1800; Roger Griswold, of Conn., Feb. 3, 1801. 

Secretaries of the Navy: George Cabot, of Mass., May 3, 1789, declined; 
Benjamin Stoddart, of Maryland, May 21, 1798. 

Postmaster-General : Joseph Habersham, continued. 

Years. Expenditures. Public Debt. Total. 

1797 $2,833,590 96 $5,792,421 82 $8,626,012 78 

1798 4,623,223 54 3,990,294 14 8,613,517 68 

1799 6,480,166 72 4.596,876 78 11,077,043 50 

1800 7,411,369 97 4,578,369 95 11,989,739 92 



$21,348,351 19 $18,957,962 69 $40,306,313 88 



THIRD ADMINISTRATION— 1801 to 1809.— eight years. 

President: Thomas Jefferson, Virginia. 

Vice-Presidents: Aaron Burr, New York; George Clinton, New York. 

Secretary of State: James Madison, of Virginia, March 5, 1801. 

Secretaries of the Treasury: S. Dexter continued in office; Albert Gallatin, 
of Pa., Jan. 26, 1802. 

Secretary of War: Henry Dearborn, of Mass., March 4, 1801. 

Secretaries of the Navy : Benjamin Stoddart continued in office ; Robert 
Smith, of Maryland, Jan, 28, 1802. 



318 SUCCESSIVE ADMINISTRATIONS, FROM 1797 TO 1846. 

Postmasters-General : Joseph Habersham continued in office ; Gideon Grander, 
Conn., Jan, 26, 1802. 



Years. 


Expenditures. 


Public Debt. 


Total. 


1801 


$4,981,669 90 


$7,291,707 04 ' 


$12,273,376 94 


1802 


3,737,079 91 


9,.539,004 76 


13,276,084 67 


1803 


4,002,824 24 


7,256,159 43 


11,258,983 67 


1804 


4,4.52,857 91 


8,171,787 45 


12,624,645 36 


1805 


6,357,234 62 


7,369,889 79 


13,727,124 41 


1806 


6,080,209 36 


8,989,884 61 


15,070,093 97 


1807 


4,984,572 89 


6,307,720 10 


11,292,292 99 


1808 


6,504,338 85 


10,260,245 35 


16,764,584 20 




$41,100,787 68 


$65,186,398 53 


$106,287,186 21 



FOURTH ADMINISTRATION— 1809 to 1817.— eight years. 

President : James Madison, Virginia. 

Vice-Presidents: George Clinton, Npw York; Elbridge Gerry, Mass. 

Secretaries of State: Robert Smith, of Md., 6th March, 1809 ; James Monroe, 
of Va., Nov. 25, 1811. 

Secretaries of the Treasury : Albert Gallatin continued in office ; George W. 
Campbell, of Tenn., Feb. 9, 1814 ; Alexander J. Dallas, of Pa., Oct. 6, 1814. 

Secretaries of War; Wm. Eustis, of Mass., March 7, 1809; John Armstrons?, 
of N. Y., Jan. 19, 1813; James Monroe, of Va., Sept. 26, 1814; Wm. H. Crawford, 
of Ga., March 2, 1815. 

Secretaries of the Navy: Paul" Hamilton, of S. C, March 7, 1809; William 
Jones, of Pa., Jan. 12, 1813 ; Benjamin W. Crowninshield, of Mass., Dec. 19, 1841, 

Postmasters-General: Gideon Granger continued in office; R. J. Meigs, of 
Ohio, March 17, 1814. 



Years 


Expenditures. 


Public Debt. 


Total, 


1809 


$7,414,672 14 


$6,452,5.54 16 


$13,867,226 30 


1810 


5,311,082 28 


8,008,904 46 


13,319,986 74 


1811 


5,592,604 86 


8,009,204 05 


13,601,808 91 


1812 


17,829,498 70 


4,449,622 45 


22,279,121 15 


1813 


28,082,391 92 


11,108,128 44 


39,190,.520 36 


1814 


30,127,686 28 


7,900,543 94 


38,028,230 22 


1815 


26,953,571 00 


12,628,922 35 


39,582,493 35 


1816 


23,373,432 58 
$144,684,939 76 


24,871,062 93 
$83,428,942 78 


48,244,495 51 




$228,113,882 54 



FIFTH ADMINISTRATION— 1817 to 1825.— eight years. 

President : James Monroe, Virginia. 
Vice-President : Daniel D. Tompkins, Ne^v York. 
Secretary of State : John Q. Adams, of Mass., March 3, 1817. 
Secretary of the Treasury : Wm. H. Crawford, of Ga., March 5, 1817. 
Secretaries of War: Isaac Shelby, of Ky., March 5, 1817, declined the appoint- 
ment; John C. Calhoun, of S. C, Dec. 16, 1817. 

Secretaries of the Navy: Benjamin W. Crowninshield, continued in office; 
Smith Thompson, of N. Y., Nov. 30, 1818; S. L. Southard, of N. J., Dec. 9, 1823. 

Postmasters-General: Return J. Meigs continued in office; John M'Lean, of 
Ohio, Dec. 9, 1823. 

Public Debt. Total. 

$25,423,036 12 $40,877,646 04 

21,296,201 62 35,10-1,875 40 

7,703,926 29 24,004,199 73 

8,628,494 28 21,763,024 85 

8,367,093 62 19,090,572 69 

7,848,949 12 17,676,529 67 

5,530,016 41 15,314,171 00 

16,568,393 76 31,898,538 47 



Years. 


Expenditures. 


1817 


$1.5,454,609 92 


1818 


13.808,673 78 


1819 


16.300,273 44 


1820 


13,134,530 57 


1821 


10,723,479 07 


1822 


9,827,580 55 


1823 


9,784,154 59 


1824 


15,330,144 71 



$104,363,446 63 $101,366,111 22 $205,729,557 85 



SUCCESSIVE ADMINISTRATIONS, FROM 1797 TO 1846. 319 

SIXTH ADMINISTRATION— 1824 to 1829.— four years. 

President : John Quincy Adams, Massachusetts. 
Vice-President : John C. Calhoun, Sotith Carolina. 
Secretary of State : Henry Clay, of Ky., March 8, 1825. 
Secretary of the Treasury : Richard Rush, of Penn., March 7, 1825. 
Secretaries of War . Jas. Barbour, of Va., March 7, 1825 ; Peter B. Porter, of 
N. Y., May 26, 1828. 

Secretary of the Navy . Samuel L. Southard, continued in office. 
Postmaster-General : John M'Lean continued in office. 



Years 
1825 
1826 

1827 
1828 


Expenditures. 

$11,490,459 94 

13,062,316 27 

12,653,096 65 

13,296,041 45 


Public Debt. 

$12,09.5,344 78 

11,041,082 19 

10,003,668 39 

12,163,438 07 

$45,303,533 43 


Total. 

$23,585,804 72 

24,103,398 46 

22,656,765 04 

25,459,479 52 




$50,501,914 31 


$95,805,447 74 



SEVENTH ADMINISTRATION— 1829 to 1837.— eight tears. 

President : Andrew Jackson, Tennessee. 

Vice-Presidents: John C. Calhoun, South Carolina; Martin Van Buren, 
New York. 

Secretaries of State : Martin Van Burcn, of New York, March 6, 1829 ; Ed. 
Livingston, of La., 1831 ; Louis M'Lane, of Del., 1833 ; John Forsyth, of Ga., 1834. 

Secretaries of the Treasury: Samuel D. Ingham, of Pa., March 6, 1829; 
Louis M'Lane, of Del., 1831 ; Wm. J. Duane, of Pa., 1833; Roger B. Taney, of 
Md., 1833 — not confirmed by the senate; Levi Woodbury, of N. H.^, 1834. 

Secretaries or War: John H. Eaton, of Tenn., March 9, 1829; Lewis Cass, 
of Ohio, 1831. 

Secretaries of the Navy: John Branch, ofN. C, March 9, 1829; Levi Wood- 
bury, of N. H., 1831; Mahlon Dickerson, of N. J., 1834. 

Postmasters-General : Wm. T. Barry, of Ky., March 9, 1829 ; Amos Kendall, 
of Ky., 1835. 



Years. 


Expenditures. 


Public Debt. 


Total. 


1829 


$12,660,490 62 


$12,383,867 78 


$25,044,358 40 


1830 


13,229,533 33 


11,355,748 22 


24,585,281 55 


1831 


13,864,067 90 


16,174,378 22 


30,038,446 12 


1832 


16,516,388 77 


17,840,309 29 


34,356.698 06 


1833 


22,713,755 11 


1,543,543 38 


24,257,298 49 


1834 


18,425,417 25 


6,176,565 19 


24,601,982 44 


1835 


17,514,950 28 


58,191 28 


17,573,141 56 


1836 


29,621,807 82 




29,621,807 82 




$144,-546,404 08 


$65,532,603 36 


$210,079,007 44 



EIGHTH ADMINISTRATION— 1837 to 1841.— four years. 

' President : Martin Van Buren, Npw York. 

Vice-President : Richard M. Johnson, Kentucky. 

Secretary of State : John Forsyth, appointed June 27, 1834, resigned March 
3, 1841. 

Secretary of the Treasury : Levi Woodbury, appointed June 27, 1834, re- 
signed March 2, 1841. 

Secretary of War : Joel R. Poinsett, appointed March 7, 1837, resigned 
March 2, 1841. 

Secretaries of the Navy: Mahlon Dickerson, appointed June 30, 1834, re- 
sisned June, 1838; James K.Paulding, appointed /ro?rt June 30, 1838; resigned 
March 2, 1841. 

Postmasters-General: Amos Kendall, appointed May], 1835, resisned ; John 
M. Niles, appointed /rom May 25, 1840, resigned March 1, 1841. 



320 SUCCESSIVE ADMINISTRATIONS, FROM 1797 TO 1846. 



Years 
1837 
1838 
1839 
1840 


Expenditures. 

$31,793,587 24 

31,578,785 08 

25,488,547 73 

23,327,772 11 

$112,188,692 16 


Public Debt. 

$21,823 91 

5,605,720 27 

11,127,987 42 

4,086,614 70 


Total. 

$31,815,410 15 

37,184,505 35 

36,616,534 15 

27,414,386 81 




$20,842,146 30 


$133,030,836 46 



NINTH ADMINISTRATION— 1841 to 1845.— four years. 

President : Gex. William Henry Harrison, Ohio. Died April 4, 1841. 

Vice-President : John Tyler, Virginia. 

President : John Tyler, Virginia (from April 4, 1841). 

Secretaries of State : Daniel Webster, appointed March 5, 1841, resigned May 
8, 1843; Hugh S. Legare, appointed May 9, 1843, died June 20, 1843; Abel P. Up- 
shur, appointed June 24, 1843, died February 28, 1844; John Nelson, acting, Febru- 
ary 29, 1844; John C. Calhoun, appointed March 6, 1844, resigned March 1, 1845. 

Secretaries of the Treasury: Thomas Ewing, appointed March 5, 1841, re- 
signed; Walter Forward, appointed September 13, 1841, resigned ; George M. Bibb, 
appointed June 15, 1844, resigned March 3, 1845. 

Secretaries of War: John Bell, appointed March 5, 1841, resigned; John C. 
Spencer, appointed October 12, 1841, transferred to treasury department; James M. 
Porter, appointed March 8, 1843, rejected by the senate ; William Wilkins, appointed 
February 15, 1844, resigned March 3, 1845. 

Secretaries of the Navy : George E. Badger, appointed March 5, 1841, re- 
signed; Abel P. Upshur, appointed September, 13, 1841, transferred to department of 
state; David Henshaw, appointed July 24, 1843, rejected by the senate; Thomas 
W. Gilmer, apiiointed February 15, 1844, died February 28, 1844; John Y. Mason, 
appointed March 14, 1844, resigned March 3, 1845. 

Postmasters-General: Francis Granger, appointed March 6, 1841, resigned; 
Charles A. Wicklifle, appointed September 13, 1841, resigned March 3, 1845. 
Years Expenditures. Public Debt. Total. 

1841 $26,196,840 29 $5,600,689 74 $31,797,530 03 

1842 24,361,336 59 8,575,539 94 32,936,876 53 
1st Jan. to Jan. 30, 

1843 11,256,508 60 861,596 55 12,118,105 15 
For the year endms Jan. 30, 

1844 20,650,^98 01 2,991,802 84 33,642,010 85 
From July to Dec. 31, 

1844 11,700,159 50 1,538,478 06 13,238,637 56 

$94,164,952 99 $29,568,207 13 $123,838,160 12 



TENTH ADMINISTRATION— 1845 to 1849. 

President : James Knox Polk, Tennessee. 

Vice-President : George M. Dallas, Pennsylvania. 

Secretary of State: James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, appointed March 5, 
1845. 

Secretary of the Treasury : Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, appointed March 
5, 1845. 

Secretary of War: William L. Marcy, of New York, appointed March 5, 1843. 

Secretary of the Navy : George Bancroft, of Massachusetts, appointed Alarch, 
1845. John Y. Mason, of Virginia, appointed 1846. 

Postmaster-General: Cave Johnson, of Tennessee, appointed March 5, 1845. 



MINISTERS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 321 



PUBLIC MINISTERS OF THE UNITED STATES, TO FOREIGN 
COUNTRIES, FROM 1789 TO 1846. 

To Great Britain. 

Gouverneur Morris, of New Jersey, commissioner, October 13, 1789. 

Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, minister plenipotentiary, January 12, 1792. 

John Jay, of New York, envoy extraordinary, April 19, 1794. 

Rufus King, of New York, minister plenipotentiary. May, 20, 1796. 

James Monroe, of Virginia, minister plenipotentiary, April 18, 1803. 

James Monroe and William Pinkney, jointly and severally, ministers plenipoten- 
tiary and extraordinary. May 12, 1806. 

William Pinkney, of Maryland, minister plenipotentiary, May 12, 1806, renewed 
February 26, 1808. 

John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipo- 
tentiary, February 28, 1815. 

Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
December 16, 1817. 

Rufus King, of New York, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
May 5, 1825. 

Albert Gallatin, of Pennsylvania, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentia- 
ry. May 10, 1826. 

James Barbour, of Virginia, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. 
May 23, 1828. 

Louis M'Lane, of Delaware, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
February 10, 1830. 

Martin Van Buren, of N. Y., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1831. 

Aaron Vail, of New York, charge d'affaires, 1832. 

Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentia- 
ry, 1836. 

Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, 1841. 

Louis M'Lane, of Maryland, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentia- 
ry, 1845. 

To France. 

William Short, of Virginia, charge d'affaires, April 6, 1790. 

Gouverneur Morris, of New Jersey, minister penipotentiary, January 12, 1792. 

James Monroe, of Virginia, minister plenipotentiary. May 28, 1790. 

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, minister plenipotentiary, Septem- 
ber 9, 1796. 

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry, and John Marshall, jointly and 
severally, envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, June 5, 1797. 

Oliver Ellsworth, Patrick Henry, and William Vans Murray, envoys extraoidinary 
and ministers plenipotentiary, February 26, 1799. 

William Richardson Davie, of North Carolina, in place of Patrick Henry, Decern 
ber 10, 1799. 

James A. Bayard, of Delaware, minister plenipotentiary, February 19, 1801. 

Robert R. Livingston, of New York, minister plenipotentiary, October 2, 1801. 

John Armstrong, of New York, minister plenipotentiary, June 30, 1804. 

Joel Barlow, of Connecticut, minister plenipotentiary, February, 27, 1811. 

William H. Crawford, of Georgia, minister plenipotentiary, April 9, 1813. 

Albert Gallatin, of Pennsylvania, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentia- 
ry, February 28, 1815. 

James Brown, of Louisiana, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, De- 
cember 9, 1823. 

William C. Rives, of Virginia, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
February 10, 1830. 

Edward Livingston, of Louisiana, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, 1833. 

Lewis Cass, of Ohio, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1836. 

Willinm R. King, of Alabama, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, 1844. 

ai 



322 MINISTERS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 

To Spain. 

William Carmichael, of Marjland, charge d'affaires, April 11, 1790. 

William Carmichael and William Short, commissioners, March 16, 1792. 

William Short, of Virginia, minister resident. May 28, 1794. 

Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, envoy extrordinary, November 24, 1794. 

David Humphreys, of Connecticut, minister plenipotentiary, Mav 20, 1796. 

Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, minister plenipotentiary, June 6, 1801. 

James Monroe, of Virginia, minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary, Octo- 
ber 14, 1804. 

James Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, minister plenipotentiary, November 22, 1804. 

George W. Erving, of Massachusetts, minister plenipotentiary, August 10, 1814. 

John Forsyth, of Georgia, minister plenipotentiary, February 16, 1819. 

Hugh Nelson, of Virginia, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
June 15, 1823. 

Alexander Hill Everett, of Massachusetts, envoy extraordinary and minister plen- 
ipotentiary, March 9, 1825. 

Cornelius P. Van Ness, of Vermont, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, February 10, 1830. 

William T. Barry, of Ky., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1835. 

John H. Eaton, of Tenn., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1836. 

Aaron Vail, of New York, charge d'affaires, 1840. 

Washington Irving, of N.Y., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1842. 

Romulus M. Saunders, of North Carolina, envoy extraordinary and minister pleni- 
potentiary, 1546. 

To the Netherlands. 

William Short, of Virginia, minister resident, January 16, 1792. 

John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, minister resident, May 30, 1794. 

William Vans Murray, of Maryland, minister resident, March 2, 1797. 

William Eustis, of Massachusetts, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
December 10, 1814. 

Alexander H. Everett, of Massachusetts, charge d'affaires, November 30, 1818. 

Christopher Hughes, of Maryland, charge d'affaires, March 9, 1825. 

Albert Gallatin and William Pitt Preble, agents in the negotiation and upon the 
umpirage relating to the northeastern boundary of the United States, May 9, 1828. 

William Pitt Preble, of Maine, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
February 10, 1830. 

Auguste Davezac, of Louisiana, charge d'affaires, 1831. 

Harmanus Bleecker, of New York, charge d'affaires, 1839. 

Christopher Hughes, of Maryland, charge d'affaires, 1842. 

Auguste Davezac, of New York, charge d'affaires, 1845. 

To Portugal. 
David Humphreys, of Connecticut, minister resident, February 21, 1791. 
John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, minister plenipotentiary. May 30, 1796. 
William Smith, of South Carolina, minister plenipotentiary, July 10, 1797. 
Thomas Sumpter, of S. Carolina, minister plenipotentiary (in Brazil), March 7, 1809. 
John Graham, of Virginia, minister plenipotentiary (in Brazil), January 6, 1819. 
Henry Dearborn, senior, of New Hampshire, envoy extraordinary and minister 
plenipotentiary. May 7, 1822. 

Thomas L. L. Brent, of Virginia, charge d'affaires, March 9, 1825. 
Edward Kavenagn, of Maine, charge d'affaires, 1835. 
Washington Barrow, charge d'affaires, 1841. 
Abraham Rencher, of North Carolina, charge d'affaires, 1843. 

To Prussia. 
John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, minister plenipotentiary, June 1, 1797. 
Henry Clay (secretary of state), special commissioner, with full power to conclude 
a treaty with the government of Prussia, April 18, 1828. 

Henry Wheaton, of Rhode Island, minister plenipotentiary, 1837. 
Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennessee, minister plenipotentiary, 1846. 

To Austria, 
Henry A. Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, minister plenipotentiary, 183S, 
Daniel Jenifer, of Maryland, minister plenipotentiary, 1841. 
William A. Stiles, of Georgia, charge d'affaires, 1845. 



MINISTERS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 323 

To Russia. 

John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, minister plenipotentiary, June 27, 1809. 

James A. Bayard, of Delaware, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
February 28, 1815. 

William Pinkney, of Maryland, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
April 26, 1815. 

Geors;e W. Campbell, of Tennessee, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, April 16, 1818. 

Henry Middleton, of South Carolina, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, April 6, 1820. 

John Randolph, of Virginia, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1830. 

James Buchanan, of Penn., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1831. 

William Wilkins, of Penn., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1834. 

John Randolph Clay, of Pennsylvania, charge d'aflaires, 1836. 

George M. Dallas, Penn., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1837. 

Churchill C. Cambreleng, of New York, envoy extraordinary and minister pleni- 
potentiary, 1840. 

Charles S. Todd, of Ky., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1841. 

To Sweden. 
Jonathan Russell, of Rhode Island, minister plenipotentiary, January 18, 1814. 
Christopher Hughes, jr., of Maryland, charge d'affaires, January 21, 1819. 
William C. Somerville, of Maryland, charge d'affaires, March 9, 1825. 
John James Appleton, of Massachusetts, charge d'affaires. May 2, 1826. 
Christopher Hughes, of Maryland, charge d'affaires, March 3, 1830. 
George W. Lay, of New York, charge d'affaires, 1842. 
Henry W. Ellsworth, of Indiana, charge d'affaires, 1845. 

Negotiators of the Treaty of Ghent. 
John Quincy Adams, Albert Gallatin, and James A. Bayard, envoys extraordinary 
and ministers plenipotentiary, April 17, 1813. (See %'ol. 1, pages 363, 366.) 

Henry Clay and Jonathan Russell were added to this commission on the 18th of 
January, 1814. 

To Denmark. 
Henry Wheaton, of New York, charge d'affaires, March 3, 1827. 
Jonathan F. Woodside, of Ohio, charge d'affaires, 1835. 
William W. Irwin, of Pennsylvania, charge d'affaires, 1843. 

To Belgium. 
Hugh S. Legare, of South Carolina, charge d'affaires, 1832. 
Virgil Maxcy, of Maryland, charge d'affaires, 1837. 
Henry W. Hilliard, of Alabama, charge d'affaires, 1842. 
Thomas G. Clemson, of Pennsylvania, charge d'affaires, 1844. 

To the Two Sicilies. 
John Nelson, of Maryland, charge d'affaires, 1831. 
Enos T. Throop, of New York, charge d'affaires, 1838. 
William Boulware, of Virginia, charge d'affaires, 1841. 
William H. Polk, of Tennessee, charge d'affaires, 1845. 

To Sardinia. 
H. Y. Rogers,charge d'affaires, 1840. 
Ambrose Baber, of Georgia, charge d'affaires, 1841. 
Robert Wickliffe, jr., of Kentucky, charge d'affaires, 1843. 

To Turkey. 
David Porter, of Maryland, charge d'affaires, 1831. 
David Porter, minister resident, 1839. 
Dabney S. Carr, of Maryland, minister resident, 1843. 

To Guatemala (Central .America). 
William Miller, of North Carolina, charge d'affaires, March 7, 1825. 
John Williams, of Tennessee, charge d'affaires, December, 9, 1825. 
William B. Rochester, of New York, charge d'affaires, March 3, 1827. 
Charles G. DeWitt, of New York, charge d'affaires, 1833. 
John L. Stephens, of New York, minister resident, 1839. 



324 MINISTERS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 

To Mexico. 

Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
January 27, 1823. (Declined the appointment.) 

Ninian Edwards, of Illinois, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 
March 4, 1824. 

Joel R. Poinsett, of South Carolina, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, March 8, 1825. 

Anthony Butler, of Mississippi, charge d'affaires, March 12, 1830. 

Powhattan Ellis, of Miss., envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1837. 

Waddy Thompson, of S. C, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1842. 

Wilson Shannon, of Ohio, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1844. 

John Slidell, of Louisiana, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, 1845. 

To the Republic of Colombia. 

Richard C. Anderson, of Virginia, minister plenipotentiary, January 27, 1823. 

Beaufort T. Watts, of South Carolina, charge d'affaires, March 3, 1827. 

William Henrv Harrison, of Ohio, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary. May 24, 1828. 

Thomas P. Moore, of Kentucky, envoy extraordinarj- and minister plenipotentiary, 
March 13, 1829. 

To Brazil. 

Condy Ragnet, of Pennsylvania, charge d'affaires, March 9, 1825. 
William Tudor, charse d'affaires, December 27, 1827. 
Ethan A. Brown, of Ohio, charge d'affaires, 1830. 
William Hunter, of Rhode Island, charge d'affaires, 1834. 
William Hunter, of Rhode Island, minister plenipotentiary, 1841. 
George H. Proffit, of Indiana, minister plenipotentiarj', 1843. 
Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, minister plenipotentiary, 1844. 

To the Republic of Buenos Ayres. 

Caesar A. Rodney, of Deb.ware, minister plenipotentiarj^ January 27, 1823. 
John M. Forbes, of Florida, charge d'affaires, March 9, 1825. 
Francis Baylies, of Mai^sachusetts, charge d'affaires, 1832. 
William Brent, jr., of Virginia, charge d'affaires, 1844. 

To the Republic of Chili. 

Heman Allen, of Vermont, minister plenipotentiary', January 27, 1823. 
Samuel Earned, of Rhode Island, charge d'affaires, February 9, 1828. 
John Harum, of Ohio, charge d'affaires, 1830. 
Richard Pollard, of Virginia, charge d'affaires, 1834. 
John S. Pendleton, of Virginia, charge d'affaires, 1841. 
William Crump, of Virginia, charge d'affaires, 1844. 

To Peru. 

James Cooley of Ohio, charge d'affaires. May 2, 1826. 

Samuel Lamed, of Rhode Island, charsfe d'affaires, December 29, 1828. 

Emanuel J. West, of Illinois, charge d'affaires, March 12, 1830. 

Samuel Earned, of Rhode Island, charge d'affaires, 1831. 

James B. Thornton, of New Hampshire, charge d'affaires, 1836. 

James C. Pickett, of Virginia, char^o d'affaires, 1838. 

Albeit G. Jewett, of Maine, charge d'affaires, 1845. 

To Venezuela. 

J. G. A. Williamson, of North Carolina, charge d'affaires, 1835. 
Allen A. Hall, of Tennessee, charge d'affaires, 1841. 
Benjamin G. Shields, of Alabama, charge d'affaires, 1845. 

To New Grenada. 

Robert B. M'Afee, of Kentucky, charge d'affaires, 1833. 
James Semple, of Illinois, charge d'affaires, 1837. 
William M. Blackford, of Virginia, charge d'affaires, 1842. 
Benjamin A. Bidlack, of Pennsylvania, charge d'affaires, 1845. 



MINISTERS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 325 

jlssembly of American nations, proposed to be held at Panama. 

Richard C. Anderson, of Virginia, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, envoys ex- 
traordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, March 14, 1826. 

Joel R. Poinsett, of South Carolina, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, February 12, 1827. 

To Texas. 

Alcee Labranche, of Louisiana, charge d'affaires, 1837. 

George H. Flood, of Ohio, charge d'affaires, 1840. 

Joseph Eve, of Kentucky, charge d'afi'aires, 1841. 

William S. Murphy, of Oliio, charge d'affaires, 1843. 

Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennessee, charge d'aflaires, 1845. 

To China. 
Caleb Gushing, of Massachusetts, commissioner, 1843. 
Alexander H. Everett, of Massachusetts, commissioner, 1845. 

To Sandwich Islands. 
George Brown, of Massachusetts, commissioner, 1843. 
Anthony Ten Eyck, of Michigan, commissioner, 1845. 



The pay of ministers plenipotentiary is $9,000 per annum, salary, beside $9,000 for 
an outfit. Secretaries of legation receive $2,000, and charge d'affaires, $4,500 per 
annum. To entitle any charge d'affaires, or secretary of any legation or embassy 
to any foreign country, or secretary of any minister plenipotentiary, to the above com- 
pensation, they must respectively be appointed by the president of the United States, 
by and with the advice and consent of the senate; but in the recess of the senate, the 
president is authorized to make such appointments, which must be submitted to the 
senate at the next session thereafter, for their advice and consent ; and no compensa- 
tion is allowed to any charge d'afi'aires, or any secretary of legation, embassy, or 
minister, who shall not be so appointed. 

Consuls of the United States, generally so called, are, in effect, agents for commerce 
and seamen ; which latter denomination, for particular reasons, is given to some of this 
class of public officers. They receive no yearly salaries (except at Paris and London, 
Tangier, Tunis, and Tripoli, where they have an annual salary of $2,000), and their 
compensation is derived from the fees which are allowed by law. The amount of 
these fees depends, of course, upon the state of foreign trade, which is perpetually 
fluctuating. Consuls of the United States, for commercial purposes, are regularly ad- 
milted and recognised, as to their official functions, in the ports of Christian Europe; 
but in the colonies of the European nations, agents for commerce and seamen mostly 
exercise the duties of their station under courtesy, without any formal recognition j 
and, in some instances, from the jealousy of colonial policy, they have not been per- 
mitted to exercise them at all. In their public capacity, consuls and agents for com- 
merce and seamen are principally occupied in verifying, in different forms, the legality 
of the trade of the United States with foreign nations, and in relieving and sending 
home American seamen, who, by accident or misfortune, are left destitute within the 
jurisdiction of their several consulates and agencies. 

The compensation of the following public officers of the United States is at present 
fixed by law at the amounts stated r — 

President of the United states, $25,000 per annum; vice-president, $5,000 per an- 
num ; secretaries of state, treasury, navy, and war, each, $6,000 per annum ; post- 
master-general, $6,000 per annum ; attorney-general, $4,000 per annum; chief jus- 
tice of the supreme court, $5,000 per annum ; associate justices, $4,500 per annum. 

From the first Congress, in 1789, inclusive, until March 4, 1795, senators and rep- 
resentatives received each $6 per diem, and $6 for every twenty miles travel. From 
March 4, 1795, to March 4, 1796, senators received $7, and representatives $6 per 
diem. From March 4, 1796, until December 4, 1815, the per diem was $6, and the 
mileaffe $6, to senators and representatives. From December 4, 1815, until March 
4, 1817, each senator and representative received $1,500 per annum, with a propor- 
tional deduction for absence, from any cause but sickness. The president of the sen- 
ate pro tempore, and speaker of the house, $3,000 per annum, each. From March 4, 
1817, the compensation to members of both houses has been $8 per diem, and $8 for 
every twenty miles travel; and to the president of the senate pro tempore, and 
speaker of the house, $16 per diem. 



326 MINISTERS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



MINISTERS, &c., TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES, from 1845 to 1849. 

MINISTERS PLEJflPOTENTIARY. 

Great Britain, — George Bancroft, of Massachusetts, 1846. 
France. — Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, 1847. 
Prussia. — Edward A. Hannegan, of Indiana, 1849. 
Russia. — Ralph J. IngersoU, of Connecticut, 1846, 

" Arthur P. Bagby, of Alabama, 1848. 

5ra2i7.— David Tod, of Ohio, 1847. 
Empire of Germany. — Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennessee, 1848. 

CHARGE d'affaires. 

DenmarJe. — R. P. Flenihen, of Pennsylvania, 1847. 
Two Sicilies. — John Rowan, of Kentucky, 1848. 
Sardinia. — Nathaniel Niles, of Vermont, 1848. 
Portugal. — George W. Hopkins, of Virginia, 1847. 
Central America. — Elijah Hise, of Kentucky, 1848. 
Rome. — J. L. Martin, of Pennsylvania, 1848. 

" Lewis Cass, jr., of Michigan, 1849. 

ilfmco.— Nathan Clifford, of Maine, 1848. 

Argentine Republic (^Buenos Ayres). — William A. Harris, of Virginia, 1846. 
Chili. — Seth Barton, of Louisiana, 1847. 
Peru. — John Randolph Clay, of Pennsylvania, 1847. 
Bolivia. — John Appleton, of Maine, 1848. 
Ecuador. — Vanbrugh Livingston, of New York, 1848. 

commissioners. 

China. — John W. Davis, of Indiana, 1848. 

ilfeo-'/co.— Nicholas P. Trist, of Virginia, 1847. » 



associate justice of THE SUPREME COUHT. 

Robert C. Grier, of Pennsylvania, appointed 1846. 



CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES. 327 



SUMMARY OF THE CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES, 

JUNE 1, 1840. 

Free or Non-Slaveholding States. 
states and Territories. Whites. Free Colored. Slaves. Total. 

Maine 500,438 1,355 501,793 

New Hampshire 284,036 537 1 284,574 

Vermont 291,218 730 291,948 

Massachusetts 729,030 8,668 737,698 

Rhode Island 105,587 3,238 5 108,830 

Connecticut 301,856 8,105 17 309,978 



Total, New England.. .2,212,165 22,633 23 2,234,821 

New York 2,378,890 50,027 4 2,428,921 

New Jersey 351,588 21,044 674 373,306 

Pennsylvania 1,676,1 15 47,854 64 1,724,033 

Ohio 1,502,122 17,342 3 1,519,467 

Indiana 678,698 7,165 3 685,866 

Illinois 472,254 3,598 331 476,183 

Michigan 21 1,560 707 212,267 

Wisconsin 30,749 185 11 43,1 12 

Iowa 42,924 172 16 30,945 



Total, Free States 9,557,065 170,727 1,129 9,728,921 

Slaveholding States. 

Delaware 58,561 16,9 19 2,605 78,085 

Maryland 318,204 62,078 89,737 470,019 

District of Columbia 30,657 8,361 4,694 43,712 

Virginia i.. 740,968 49,842 448,987 1,239,797 

North Carolina 484,870 22,732 255,817 753,419 

South Carolina 259,084. ..... . .8.276 327,038 494,398 

Georgia 407,695 2,753 280,944 691,392 

Florida 27,943 8l7 25,717 54,477 

Alabama 335,185 2,039 253,532 590,756 

Mississippi 179,074 1,369 195,21 1 375,654 

Louisiana 158,457 25,502 168,451 352,411 

Arkansas 77, ] 74 465 19,935 97,574 

Tennessee 640,627 5,524 183,059 829,210 

Kentucky 590,253 7,3 17 182,258 779,828 

Missouri 323,888 1,574 58,240 383,702 



Total, Slave States 4,632,640 ..... .215,568 2,486,226 7,334,434. 



Total, United States. . . . 14,189,705 386,295 2,487,355 17,063,355 



PROGRESS OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES FOR FIFTY 
YEARS, FROM 1790 TO 1840. 

First Census, jlugust 1, 1790. 
Whites. Free Colored. Slaves. Total. 

Free States 1,900,772 26,83 1 40,850 ....».,.. 1,968,453 

Slave States 1,271,692 32,635 645,047 1,961,374 



Total 3,172,464 59,446 697,897 3,929,827 



328 CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Second Census, August 1, 1800. 
Wliites. Free Colored. Slaves. Total. 

Free States 2,601,509 47,154 35,946 2,684,609 

Slave States 1,702,980 61,241 857,095 2,621,316 



Total 4,304,489 108,395 893,041 5,305,925 

Third Census, Jugust 1, 1810. 

Free States 3,653,219 78,181 27,510 3,758,910 

Slave States 2,208,785 108,265 1,163,854 3,480,904 



Total 5,862,004 186,446 1,191,364 7,239,814 

Fourth Census, August 1, 1820. 

Free States 5,030,371 102,893 19,108 5,152,372 

Slave States 2,842,340 135,434 1,524,580 4,502,224 



Total 7,872,711 238,197 1,543,688 9,654,596 

Fifth Census, June 1, 1830. 

Free States 6,876,620 137,529 3,568 7,017,717 

Slave States 3,660,758 182,070 2,005,475 5,848,303 



Total 10,537,378 319,599 2,009,043 12,866,020 

Sixth Ceiisus, June 1, 1840. 

Free States 9,557,065 170,727 1,129 9,728,921 

Slave States 4,632,640 .215,568 2,486,226 7,334,434 



Total 14,189,705 386,295 2,487,355 17,063,355 



OCCUPATIONS OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE CENSUS OF 1840. 

Number of Persons employed in Agriculture. Manufactures. Commerce. 

New England States 414,138 187,258 17,157 

Middle States 808,633 333,947 50,077 

Southern States 955,729 87,955 12,962 

Southwestern States 650,546 37,899 14,496 

Northwestern States 890,905 144,690 22,3 15 



Total, 1840 3,719,951 791,749 1 17,607 

Total, 1820 2,070,646 349,506 72,493 

Other Occupations, by the Census of 1840. 

Number of Persons employed in Mining in the United States 15,211 

« « « Navigation of the Ocean 56,021 

«* « « Internal Navigation 33,076 

<» « " Learned Professions, including Engineers.. . .65,255 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 329 



SYNOPSIS OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SEVERAL 
UNITED STATES. 

ADOPTION OF THE FIRST STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

The continental Congress, on the 10th of May, 1776, recommended to 
the assemblies and conventions of the several colonies where no govern- 
ments sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs had been established, to 
adopt such systems as, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, 
would best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in 
particular, and British America in general. 

The difficulties in forming state governments or constitutions, were 
much less than in forming a system embracing all the states. The people 
had long been familiar with the civil institutions of their respective states, 
and could, with comparative ease, make such alterations as would suit 
their new political situation. The people of Connecticut and Rhode Is- 
land had, from their first settlement, chosen all their rulers, and in these 
states, a change of forms was only requisite. 

Massachusetts, after the alteration of her charter by parliament, con- 
tinued her old system as far as practicable, agreeably to the advice of Con- 
gress, until she was able and had leisure to form a new and more perma- 
nent one. From the peculiar situation of New Hampshire, Virginia, and 
South Carolina, Congress in November, 1775, recommended to them, if 
they judged it necessary for their peace and security, to establish govern- 
ments, to continue during the disputes with Great Britain. In pursuance 
of these recommendations, the states of New Hampshire, South Carolina, 
Virginia, and New Jersey, established new systems of government before 
the declaration of independence. They were followed by four other 
states, during the year 1776, and with the exception of that of Virginia, 
these state systems of government were expressly limited in their duration 
to the continuance of the dispute between the colonies and Great Britain. 
In all the constitutions thus formed, except that of Pennsylvania, the legis- 
lative power was vested in two branches.* 

Vermont did not become a member of the Union until 1791. That 
state was originally settled under grants from New Hampshire, and prin- 
cipally by the hardy yeomanry of New England, who became acquainted 
with the country in the war of 1756. It was a long time known by the 
name of " the New Hampshire grants," and its inhabitants were called 
" the green-mountain boys." It was claimed by New York, under the old 
* Pitkin's History of the United States. 



330 SVNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

grant to the duke of York ; and in 17G4, on an ectparte application to the 
king and council, the country, as far east as Connecticut river, was placed 
tinder the jurisdiction of that province. This was done without the 
knowledge and contrary to the wishes of the inhabitants, who at the rev- 
olution declared themselves independent, and in J 777 established a tem- 
porary government. They afterward requested to be admitted a member 
of the confederacy, but were opposed by New Hampshire and New York; 
and Congress were unwilling to offend those states. A frame of state 
government was established July 4, 1786, and in 1790 New York was in- 
duced, by the payment of $30,000 to withdraw its claims, and in 1791 
Vermont was admitted into the Union. 

The following are the dates when the first constitutions of the old states 
were adopted : — 



New Hampshire, January 5 1776 

South Carolina, March 24 1776 

Virginia, June 29 1776 

New Jersej", July 2 1776 

Maryland, August 14 1776 

Pennsylvania, September 1776 



Delaware, September 1776 

North Carolina, December 1776 

New York, April 1777 

Massachusetts, March 1780 

Vermont, July 4 1786 

Georgia, May 1789 



A sy?iopsis or outline of the principal features of the Constitutions of each 
of the United States. 

MAINE. 

The constitution of this state was formed in 1819, and went into oper- 
ation in 1820. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and a house of representa- 
tives, both elected annually by the people, on the second Monday of Sep- 
tember. These two bodies are together styled the Legislature of Maine. 

The number of representatives can not be less than 100, nor more than 
200. A town having 1,500 inhabitants is entitled to send one representa- 
tive; having 3,750, two; 6,775, three; 10,500, four; 15,000, five; 
20,250, six ; 26,250, seven ; but no town can ever be entitled to more 
than seven representatives. The number of senators can not be less than 
twenty, nor more than thirty-one. 

The legislature meets (at Augusta) annually, in the month of May; it 
formerly met in January. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected annually 
by the people, on the second Monday in September, and his term of office 
commences on the first Wednesday in January. A council of seven mem- 
bers is elected annually, by joint ballot of the senators and representatives, 
to advise the governor in the executive part of government. 

The right of suffrage is granted to every male citizen aged twenty-one 
years or upward (excepting paupers, persons under guardianship, and In- 
dians not taxed), having had his residence established in the state for the 
term of three months next preceding an election. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme judicial court, and such 
other courts as the legislature may, from time to time, establish. All the 
judges are appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the 
council ; and they hold their offices during good behavior, but not beyond 
the age of seventy years. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 331 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

A constitution was established in 1784; and in 1792, this constitution 
was altered and amended by a convention of delegates held at Concord, 
and is now in force. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representa- 
tives, which, together, are styled the General Court of New Hampshire. 

Every town, or incorporated township, having 150 ratable polls, may 
send one representative ; and for every 300 additional polls, it is entitled 
to an additional representative. 

The senate consists of twelve members, who are chosen by the people 
in districts. 

The executive power is vested in a governor and a council, which con- 
sists of five members. 

The governor, council, senators, and representatives, are all elected an- 
nually, by the people, on the second Tuesday in March, and their term 
of service commences on the first Wednesday in June. 

The general court meets annually (at Concord) on the first Wednesday 
in June. 

The right of suffrage is granted to every male inhabitant of twenty-one 
years of age, excepting paupers, and persons excused from paying taxes 
at their own request. 

The judiciary power is vested in a superior court, and a court of com- 
mon pleas. The judges are appointed by the governor and council, and 
hold their offices during good behavior, but not beyond the age of seventy 
years. 

VERMONT. 

The first constitution of this state was formed in 1777, and revised in 
1786 ; the one now in operation was adopted on the 4th of July, 1793 , 
and an amendment establishing a senate was adopted in January, 1836. 

The legislative power is now vested in a senate and house of represen- 
tatives, elected by the people annually, on the first Tuesday in September. 

The senate consists of thirty members ; each county being entitled to 
at least one, and the remainder to be apportioned according to population ; 
and the house of representatives is composed of one member from each 
town. The senators must be thirty years of age, and the lieutenant-gov- 
ernor is ex-off.cio president of the senate. 

The legislature is styled the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, 
and meets annually, on the second Thursday of October, at Montpelier. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, or, in his absence, a lieu- 
tenant-governor, both elected annually by the people, on the first Tuesday 
in September, and their term of office expires on the second Thursday in 
October. 

The judiciary powers are vested in a supreme court, consisting of five 
judges, chosen every year by the legislature ; in a county court, consisting 
of three judges, chosen in the same manner (one of the judges of the su- 
preme court being chief-justice), who hold courts twice a year, in their 
respective counties, and in justices of the peace, appointed in the same 
manner. 

The constitution grants the right of suffrage to every man, of the full 
age of twenty-one years, who has resided in the state for the space of one 
whole year, next before the election of representatives, and is of quiet and 
peaceable behavior. 

A council of censors, consisting of thirteen persons, are chosen every 



332' SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

seven years (first elected in 1799), on the last Wednesday in March, and 
meet on the first Wednesday in June. Their duty is to inquire whether 
the constitution has been preserved inviolate ; whether the legislative and 
executive branches of government have performed their duty as guardians 
of the people ; whether the public taxes have been justly laid and col- 
lected ; in what manner the public moneys have been disposed of ; and 
whether the laws have been duly executed. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

The constitution of this state was formed in 1780, and amended, by a 
state convention and the people, in 1821. Several amendments have since 
been recommended by the legislature, and adopted by the people. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representa- 
tives, which together are styled the General Court of Massachusetts. 

The senate consists of forty members, -^o are chosen annually by the 
people, by districts, or counties, according to population. 

The house of representatives consists of members chosen annually by 
the cities and towns, according to population, every town having 300 ra- 
table polls electing one representative, and for every 450 more, one addi- 
tional representative. Any town having less than 300 polls, to be repre- 
sented as many years within ten years, as 300 is contained in the product 
of the number of polls in said town, multiplied by ten. When there is a 
surplus of polls over a sufficiency for one or more representatives, multi- 
ply the surplus by ten, and divide by 450, and the quotient will show how- 
many years of the decennial period the town shall be allowed an addi- 
tional representative. 

The supreme executive magistrate is styled the Governor of the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, and has the title of " His Excellency .''^ The 
governor is elected annually by the people, and at the same time a lieu- 
tenant-governor is chosen, who has the title of " His Honor." The gov- 
ernor is assisted in the executive department, particularly in appointments 
to office, by a council of nine members, who are chosen by the joint ballot 
of the senators and representatives, from the senators ; and in case the 
persons elected councillors decline the appointment, others are chosen by 
the legislature from the people at large. 

The annual election is held on the second Monday in November, and 
the general court meets at Boston, on the first Wednesday of January. 

The right of sufirage is granted to every male citizen twenty-one years 
of age and upward (excepting paupers and persons under guardianship), 
who has resided within the commonwealth one year, and within the town 
or district in which he may claim a right to vote, six calendar months next 
preceding any election, and who has paid a state or county tax, assessed 
upon him within two years next preceding such election ; and also every 
citizen who may be by law exempted from taxation, and who may be in 
all other respects qualified as abovementioned. 

The judiciary is vested in a supreme court, a court of common pleas, 
and such other courts as the legislature may establish. The judges are 
appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the 
council, and hold their offices during good behavior. 

RHODE ISLAND. 

The charter granted to the colony of Rhode Island, by King Charles 
II., in 1663, formed the basis of the state government, until the present 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 333 

constitution was framed, which was adopted in November, 1842, and went 
into effect on the first Tuesday of May, 1843. 

By this constitution the legislative power is vested in a senate and 
house of representatives, who are together styled the General Assembly of 
the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

The senate consists of the governor, lieutenant-governor, and one sen- 
ator from each of the thirty-one towns in the state. 

The house of representatives consists of sixty-nine members, appor- 
tioned among the towns according to population. Each town is to have 
at least one, and no town more than twelve representatives. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, being, with the lieuten- 
ant-governor, senators, and representatives, elected annually by the people, 
on the first Wednesday of April, for the year commencing the first Tues- 
day of May, when the general assembly meets at Newport ; and adjourned 
sessions are held alternately at Providence, East Greenwich, and Bristol. 
The judges and other public officers, except those chosen by the people, 
are appointed annually by the general assembly. 

The judicial powers are vested in a supreme court, consisting of a chief- 
justice and three associate justices, who hold their offices until they are 
removed by a resolution passed by both houses of the assembly, and in a 
court of common pleas for each county, consisting of a justice of the su- 
preme court, and two associate justices. 

The right of suffrage is vested in all male native citizens of the United 
States, who have resided in the state two years, and in the town where 
they propose to vote, six months ; who have been registered in the town 
clerk's office at least seven days before the, election ; have paid within one 
year a tax of one dollar, or have done military duty within the preceding 
year ; likewise, in all male citizens (naturalized foreigners) of the United 
States, who in addition to the preceding qualifications, possess real estate 
in the town or city, worth $134 over all incumbrances, or which rents for 
$7 per annum. 

CONNECTICUT. 

The charter granted in 1662 by Charles II., formed the basis of the 
government of Connecticut till 1818, when the present constitution was 
framed. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representa- 
tives, which together are styled the General Assembly. 

The members of the house of representatives are chosen by the differ- 
ent towns in the state ; the more ancient towns, the majority of the whole 
number, send each two representatives ; the rest only one each. The 
present number is 220. 

The senate must consist of not less than eighteen, nor more than twenty- 
four members, who are chosen by districts. The present number is 
twenty-one. 

The executive power is vested in a governor. A lieutenant-governor is 
also chosen, who is president of the senate, and on whom the duties of 
the governor devolve, in case of his death, resignation, or absence. 

The representatives, senators, governor, and lieutenant-governor, are all 
elected annually by the people, on the first Monday in April. 

The general assembly has one stated session every year, on the first 
Wednesday in May, alternately at Hartford and at New Haven. 

Every white male citizen of the United States, who shall have gained 



334 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

a settlement in this state, attained the age of twenty-one years, and resi- 
ded in the town in which he may offer himself to be admitted to the pnv- 
ilege of an elector, at least six months preceding, and have a freehold es- 
tate of the yearly value of seven dollars, in this state ; or having been 
enrolled in the militia, shall have performed military duty therein for the 
term of one year next preceding the time he shall offer himself for admis- 
sion, or being liable thereto, shall have been, by authority of law, excused 
therefrom ; or shall have paid a state tax within the year next preceding 
the time he shall present himself for such admission, and shall sustain a 
good moral character ; shall, on the taking such an oath as may be pre- 
scribed by law, be an elector. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court of errors, a superior 
court, and such inferior courts as the general assembly may, from time to 
time, establish. The judges are appointed by the general assembly ; and 
those of the supreme and superior courts hold their offices during good be- 
havior, but not beyond the age of seventy years. 

No person is compelled to join, support, or to be classed with, or asso- 
ciated to, any congregation, church, or religious association. But every 
person may be compelled to pay his proportion of the expenses of the so- 
ciety to which he may belong; he may, however, separate himself from 
the society by leaving a written notice of his wish with the clerk of such 
society. 

NEW YORK. 

The present constitution of the state of New York, was formed in 1846. 

Every male citizen, twenty-one years of age, ten days a citizen, one 
year next preceding any election an inhabitant of the state, for the last 
four months a resident of the county where he may offer his vote, and for 
thirty days next preceding tlje election, a resident of the district of his 
candidate, may vote in the election district of which he shall at the time 
be a resident, and not elsewhere. No man of color shall vote unless he 
shall have been for three years a resident of the state, and, for one year 
next preceding the election, shall have owned a freehold worth two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars above all incumbrances, and shall have paid a tax 
thereon. And no person of color shall be taxed unless he shall own such 
real estate. Persons convicted of any infamous crime, and those who 
have made, or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet upon an 
election, may by a law be deprived of their vote therein. 

The state shall be divided into thirty-two districts, each of which shall 
choose one senator to serve for two years. A census of the state shall 
be taken in 1855, and in every ten years afterward. The legislature, at 
the next session after such census, shall reorganize the districts on the 
basis of population, excluding aliens and persons of color not taxed ; and 
the districts shall remain unaltered until the next census. Members of 
the assembly, one hundred and twenty-eight in number, and apportioned 
among the several counties according to the population, excluding aliens 
and persons of color not taxed, shall be elected annually and by single 
districts. Each county, except Hamilton, shall have at least one member 
of the assembly ; and no new county shall be made unless its population 
entitle it to a member. The pay of the senators and representatives shall 
not be more than three dollars a day, with one dollar for every ten miles 
of travel, nor exceed in the whole three dollars per diem allowance. In 
extra sessions it shall be three dollars a day. The speaker shall receive 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 335 

one third additional to his per-diem allowance. No member of the legis- 
tiire shall, during his term, be appointed to any office ; and no one holding 
office under the United States, and no member of Congress shall belong 
to the legislature. The election shall be on the Tuesday succeeding the 
first Monday in November ; and the legislature shall assemble on the first 
Tuesday of the following January. The assembly maj'- impeach by a ma- 
jority vote of all the members elected. 

The governor and lieutenant-governor, chosen by a plurality of votes, 
shall hold office for two years. In case two persons have an equal and 
the highest vote, the legislature, at its next session, by joint ballot shall 
decide between them. They must be thirty years old, citizens of the 
United States, and have been, for five years next preceding their election, 
residents in the state. The governor may veto a bill ; but two thirds of 
both houses may pass it again, notwithstanding his veto. The lieutenant- 
governor shall be president of the senate, with only a casting vote ; and 
if the office of governor be vacant, he, and, after him, the president of 
the senate, shall act as governor. The secretary of state, comptroller, 
treasurer, attorney-general, state-engineer, and surveyor, shall be chosen 
at a general election, and hold office for two years. The treasurer may 
be suspended from office by the governor, during the recess of the legis- 
lature, and until thirty days after the beginning of the next session. At 
the first election, three canal commissioners, and three inspectors of pris- 
ons shall be chosen, to hold office one, two, and three years, respectively, 
as shall be determined by lot ; and afterward one shall be elected annu- 
ally to hold office for three years. The inspectors shall have charge of 
the stateprisons, and shall appoint all officers therein. 

The court of appeals shall consist of eight judges, four to be elected 
by the people of the state, to serve eight years, and four selected from the 
justices of the supreme court, having the shortest time to serve. The 
judges shall be so classified that every two years one shall leave office, 
and a new judge be elected to serve eight years. The state shall be divi- 
ded into eight judicial districts, of which New York city shall be one ; 
where the number of judges is to be fixed by law. The other districts 
shall each elect four justices of the supreme court to serve eight years. 
The justices shall have general jurisdiction in law and equity, and shall 
be so classified that every two years one in each district shall go out of 
office. Each county, except the city and county of New York, shall elect 
one county judge for four years, who shall act as surrogate and hold the 
county court. Counties of more than forty thousand inhabitants may elect 
a separate surrogate. Towns may elect justices of the peace to serve four 
years. Cities may have inferior local courts of civil and criminal jurisdic- 
tion. Tribunals of conciliation may be established whose judgment shall be 
binding only upon parties who voluntarily submit their matters in dispute, 
and agree to abide the result. A clerk of the court of appeals, to be eX' 
officio clerk of the supreme court, shall be chosen by the people for three 
years. Sheriffs, county-clerks, coroners, and district attorneys, shall be 
chosen by counties once in three years, and as often as vacancies happen 
Sheriffs shall hold no other office, and be ineligible for the next three years 
after the termination of their office, 

From June 1, 1846, there shall be paid each year out of the net reve- 
nue of the state canals, one million, three hundred thousand dollars, until 
June 1, 1855 ; and from that time one million, seven hundred thousand 
dollars a year, as a sinking fund for the payment of the canal debt of the 



336 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

State. Afterward, from the remaining revenues of the canals, there shall be 
paid from June 1, 1846, until the canal debt is extinguished, three hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars a year ; and afterward, one million, five 
hundred thousand dollars a year, for the redemption of the general fund 
and all contingent debts. Of the balance of the canal revenues, a sum not 
above two hundred thousand dollars a year (which may, if necessarjr, after 
eight years be increased to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars per 
annum, and which, after the above debts are paid, and certain now unfin- 
ished canals completed, may be still further increased to six hundred and 
seventy-two thousand, five hundred dollars a year), shall be devoted to pay 
the necessary expenses of the state ; and the balance shall be expended 
to complete the still unfinished canals. The principal and income of these 
sinking funds shall be sacredly applied to the purposes for which they 
were created ; and, if either proves insufficient, its revenues shall be suf- 
ficiently increased by taxes to preserve perfectly the public faith. The 
state canals shall never be sold, leased, or otherwise disposed of. 

The state shall never give its credit to any individual or corporation ; 
nor shall it ever contract a debt, except to meet casual deficits in the rev- 
enue, or to suppress insurrection, or for defence in war, unless such debt 
be authorized for some single work by a law which shall provide by a di- 
rect annual tax, to be irrepealable until the debt is extinguished, for the 
payment of the interest annually, and of the principal within eighteen 
years, and which shall be passed by yeas and nays, and be submitted to 
the people, and receive a majority of all the votes at a general election, 
to be held not less than three months after its passage, and at which no 
other law or any amendment to the constitution is voted for; and, on its 
final passage by the legislature, the question shall be taken by yeas and 
nays, and three fifths of all the members elected shall form a quorum. All 
moneys arising from such loan shall be applied only to the objects of the 
loan. No payment shall be made out of the funds of the state, unless by 
a law distinctly specifying the sum and object of the appropriation. Pub- 
lic moneys or property can not be appropriated for local or private pur- 
poses, except by a two thirds vote of the members elected to each branch 
of the legislature. 

Corporations, with the individual liability of the corporators, may be 
formed under general laws which may be altered or repealed. They shall 
not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and when 
the objects of the corporation can not be gained under general laws. No 
special charter shall be granted for banking purposes ; and after January 
1, 1850, stockholders in banks shall be individually liable, to the amount 
of their stock, for debts incurred after that date. If a bank is insolvent, 
the bill-holders shall be preferred creditors. 

The capital of the common school and literary funds shall be preserved 
inviolate, and its revenue applied to the support of common schools and 
academies. All persons, from scruples of conscience, averse to bearing 
arms, shall be excused therefrom upon such conditions as may be pro- 
scribed by law. No one shall be incompetent as a witness on account 
of his opinions upon religion. In all libel cases the truth may be given 
in evidence, and the jury shall have the right to decide the law and the 
fact. All feudal tenures, with all their incidents, are abolished ; except 
such rents and services certain as have been lawfully created or reserved. 
No lease or grant of agricultural land for more than twelve years, hereaf- 
ter made, in which any rent or service is reserved, shall be valid. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 337 

Amendinents to the constitution must be agreed to by a majority vote of 
the members elected to each of the two houses ; be entered on their jour- 
nals with the yeas and nays ; be referred to the legislature to be chosen at 
the next general election of senators, and published three months previous to 
such election ; be passed by a majority of all the members elected to this 
legislature ; be then submitted to the people, and if a majority approve the 
amendments, they shall become a part of the constitution. In 1866, and 
every twentieth year thereafter, and at such times as the legislature may 
provide, the question of a revision of the constitution shall be submitted to 
the people ; and, if a majority decide in favor of a convention, the legisla- 
ture at its next session shall provide for the election of delegates thereto. 

NEW JERSEY. 

The original constitution of New Jersey was formed in 1776, and no 
revision of it took place until the adoption of the present constitution, in 
1844, except that the legislature undertook to explain its provisions in 
particular parts. 

In May, 1844, a convention of delegates, chosen by the people, assem- 
bled at Trenton, and prepared the draught of anew constitution, which was 
submitted to the people on the 13th of August, was adopted by a large 
majority, and went into operation on the 2d of September, 1844. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and general assembly, who 
are styled the Senate and. General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, 
under which title laws are enacted. 

The senate consists of one senator from each county, elected by the 
people for three years, one third going out each year. Their present 
number is nineteen. 

The general assembly consists of not more than sixty, chosen annually 
by the people of each county, by apportionment according to the number 
of inhabitants. 

The members of the senate and of the general assembly are elected on 
the second Tuesday of October, and meet at Trenton on the second Tues- 
day in the next January, when the legislative year commences. 

Charters for banks and money corporations require the assent of three 
fifths of the members elected to each house, and are limited to twenty 
years. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, elected by the people 
once in three years, at the general election. He has the power of nomi- 
nating and appointing to office, with the advice and consent of the senate, 
the chancellor, justices of the supreme court, judges of the court of errors 
and appeals, and all other officers not otherwise provided for by law. 

The judicial power is vested in a court of errors and appeals, com- 
posed of the chancellor, the judges of the supreme court, and six other 
judges ; a court for the trial of impeachments ; a court of chancery ; a 
supreme court, of five judges ; and courts of common pleas. The chan- 
cellor and judges of the supreme court hold their offices for seven years ; 
the six judges of the court of errors and appeals, for six years, one judge 
vacating his seat each year in rotation. 

The right of suffrage is exercised by every white male citizen of the 
United States, who has resided in the state one year, and in the county 
where he votes five months (paupers, idiots, insane persons, and criminals 
excepted). 

22 



338 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS, 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

The first constitiilion of Pennsylvania was adopted in 1776 ; a second 
one in 1790 ; and the present amended constitution was adopted in 1838. 

The lesfislative power is vested in a general assembly, consisting of a 
senate and house of representatives. 

The senators are chosen for three years, one third being elected annu- 
ally, by the people, by districts. Their number can not be greater than 
one third, nor less than one fourth of the number of representatives. The 
present number is thirty-three. 

The representatives are chosen annually on the second Tuesday of C>c- 
tober, by the citizens of Philadelphia, and each county respectively, ap- 
portioned according to the number of taxable inhabitants. The number 
can not be less than sixty nor more than one hundred ; which latter is 
the present number chosen. 

The general assembly meets annually at Harrishiirg, on the first Tues- 
day of January, unless sooner convened by the governor. 

The supreme executive power is vested in a governor, who is chosen 
on the 2d Tuesday in October, and who holds his office during three 
years from the third Tuesday of January next after his election ; and he 
can not hold it longer than six years in any term of nine years. 

The judicial power is A^ested in a supreme court, in courts of oyer and 
terminer, and general jail delivery, in a court of common pleas, orphans' 
court, register's court, and court of quarter sessions of the peace for each 
county, in justices of the peace, and in such other courts as the legislature 
may from time to time establish. 

The judges of the supreme court, court of common pleas, and other 
courts of record, are appointed by the governor, with the consent of the 
senate — the judges of the supreme court for fifteen years ; the president 
judges of the court of common pleas, and other courts of record, for ten 
years ; and the associate judges of the courts of common pleas, for five 
years. 

The right of suffrage is exercised by every white freeman of the age 
of twenty-two years, having resided in the state one year, and in the elec- 
tion district where he offers his vote ten days immediately preceding such 
election, and within two years paid a state or county tax, which shall 
have been assessed at least ten days before the election. White freemen, 
citizens of the United States, between the ages of twenty-one and twenty- 
two years, having resided in the state one year, may vote without paying 
taxes. 

DELAWARE. 

The constitution was formed in 1792, and amended in 1831. 

The legislature is styled the General Assembly, and consists of a senate 
and house of representatives. 

The senators are nine in number, namely, three from each county, and 
are elected for a term for four years. 

The representatives are elected for a term of two years, and are twenty- 
one in number, seven from each county. 

The gen.eral assembly meets at Dover, biennially, on the first Tuesday 
in January, unless sooner convened by the governor. 

The general election is held biennially, on the second Tuesday in No- 
vember. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected by the 
people for a term of four years, and is not eligible for a second term. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 339 

The judicial power is vested in a court of errors and appeals, a supe- 
rior court, a court of chancery, an orphans' court, a court of oyer and ter- 
miner, a court of genei'al sessions of the peace and jail deliver)', a regis- 
ter's court, justices of the peace, and such other courts as the general 
assembly may, by a vote of two thirds of each house, establish. 

The right of suffrage is granted to every white male citizen of the age 
of twenty-two years, or upward, having resided in the state one year next 
before the election, and the last month in the county where he votes ; and 
having within two years paid a county tax. Also, to every white male 
citizen over twenty-one, and under twenty-two years of age, having resi- 
ded as aforesaid, without payment of any tax. 

MARYLAND. 

The constitution of this state was first formed in 1776, since which time 
many amendments have been made by the legislature, which has the 
power, if amendments are passed by one legislature and confirmed by the 
next in succession. 

By the constitution as it stands at present, the legislative power is 
vested in a senate consisting of twenty-one members, and a house of rep- 
resentatives of seventy-nine members, and these two branches united are 
styled the General Assembly of Maryland. 

The senators are elected by the people, one from each county, and one 
from the city of Baltimore, and hold their seats for six years, one third 
being chosen biennialy. 

The members of the house of delegates are elected annually by the 
people ; the city of Baltimore to send six delegates ; counties having more 
than 35,000 inhabitants, six delegates ; less than 35,000 and more than 
25,000, five delegates ; less than 25,000 and more than 15,000, four dele- 
gates ; less than 15,000, three delegates. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is chosen by the 
people, and holds his office for three years from the first Monday of Jan- 
uary, but is ineligible for the next succeeding term. The state is divided 
into three districts, and the governor is taken from each of the districts, 
alternately. The governor nominates, and with the consent of the senate, 
appoints all officers whose offices are created by law. 

The annual election is held on the first Wednesday in October, and the 
general assembly meets at Annapolis, on the last Monday in December. 

The judicial power is vested in a court of chancery, a court of appeals 
of six judges, county courts, and orphans' courts. The state is divided 
into six judicial districts, and for each district there are a chief judge and 
two associates, who constitute the county courts for the respective coun- 
ties in the district. The six chief judges constitute the court of appeals 
for the state. The chancellor and judges hold their offices during good 
behavior. 

The constitution grants the right of suffrage to every free, white male 
citizen, above twenty-one years of age, having resided twelve months in 
the state, and six months in the county, or in the city of Annapolis or Bal- 
timore, next preceding the election at which he offers to vote. 

VIRGINIA. 
The old constitution of this state was formed in 1776, and continued in 
operation until 1830, when the present amended constitution was formed 
by a convention, and accepted by the people. 



340 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

By this constitution the legislative power is vested in a senate and a 
house of delegates, which are together styled the General Assembly of 
Virginia. 

The house of delegates consists of 134 members, chosen annually; 
thirty-one from the twenty-six counties west of the Allegany mountains ; 
twenty-five from the fourteen counties between the Allegany mountains 
and Blue Ridge, forty-two from the twenty-nine counties east of the Blue 
Ridge, and above tide-water, and thirty-six from the counties, cities, 
towns and boroughs, lying upon tide-water. 

The senate consists of thirty-two members ; thirteen from the counties 
west of the Blue Ridge, and nineteen from the counties, cities, towns, 
and boroughs, east thereof. The senators are elected for four years ; and 
the seats of one fourth of them are vacated every year. In all elections 
to any office or place of trust, honor, or profit, the votes are given openly, 
or viva voce, and not by ballot. 

A reapportionment for representation in both houses, is to take place 
every ten years, commencing in 1841, until which time there is to be no 
change in the number of delegates and senators from the several divisions, 
and after 1841, the number of delegates is never to exceed 150, nor that 
of the senators 36. 

The time of election of delegates is fixed by the general assembly, and 
at present takes place in April. 

The general assembly meets annually at Richmond, on the first Monday 
in December. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, elected by the joint vote 
of the two houses of the general assembly. He holds his office three 
years, commencing on the first of January next succeeding his election, 
or on such other days as may be from time to time prescribed by law ; 
and he is ineligible for the three years next after the expiration of his 
term of office. 

There is a council of state, consisting of three members, elected for 
three years by the joint vote of the two houses, the seat of one being va- 
cated annually. The senior councillor is lieutenant-governor. 

The judges of the supreme court of appeals and of the superior courts, 
are elected by a joint vote of both houses of the general assembly, and 
hold their offices during good behavior, or until removed by a concurrent 
vote of both houses ; but two thirds of the members present must concur 
in such vote, and the cause of removal be entered on the journals of each 
house. 

The right of suffrage is extended to every white male citizen of the 
commonwealth, resident therein, aged twenty-one years and upward, who 
is qualified to exercise the right of suffrage according to the former con- 
stitution and laws ; or who owns a freehold of the value of twenty-five 
dollars ; or who has a joint interest to the amount of twenty-five dollars, 
in a freehold ; or who has a life estate in, or reversionary title to, land of 
the value of fifty dollars, having been so possessed for six months ; or 
who shall own and be in the actual occupation of a leasehold estate, hav- 
ing the title recorded two months before he shall offer to vote — of a term 
originally not less than five years, and of the annual value or rent of two 
hundred dollars ; or who for twelve months before off'ering to vote, has 
been a housekeeper and head of a family, and shall have been assessed 
with a part of the revenue of the commonwealth, within the preceding 
year, and actually paid the same. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 341 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

The constitution of North Carolina was originally framed and adopted 
in December, 1776, and certain amendments agreed upon by a convention 
in 1835, and ratified by the people, went into operation on the first of 
January, 1S3G. 

The legislative power is vested in a body styled the General Assembly, 
consisting of a senate and house of commons, both elected biennially by 
the people. 

The senate consists of fifty members, elected by districts, laid off and 
apportioned according to the amount of taxes paid by the citizens into the 
treasury of the state. 

The house of commons consists of one hundred and twenty members, 
chosen by counties, according to their federal population, that is, according 
to their respective numbers, determined by adding to the whole number 
of free persons (including those bound to service for a term of years, and 
excluding Indians not taxed) three fifths of all other persons (slaves). 

All freemen (people of color excepted) of the age of twenty-one years, 
who have been inhabitants of any one district within the state for twelve 
months preceding the day of any election, and are possessed of a freehold 
within the same district, of fifty acres of land, for six months next before 
and at the day of election, are entitled to vote for senators. The constitu- 
tion grants the right of voting for governor and members of the house of 
commons, to all freemen of the age of twenty-one years, who have been 
inhabitants of the state twelve months immediately preceding the election. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected by the 
people biennially ; is to enter on the duties of his office on the first day 
of January next after his election ; but he is not eligible more than four 
years in any term of six years. He is assisted by a council of state of 
seven persons, elected by the legislature. 

The time of holding the election for governor and members of the gen- 
eral assembly, is appointed by the legislature ; at present it is fixed for the 
first Thursday in August, biennially. All elections by the people are by 
ballot. The general assembly meets biennially, at Raleigh, on the third 
Monday in November. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court of three judges, and in 
a superior or circuit court of seven judges ; besides inferior courts. The 
state is divided into seven circuits, in which the superior court is held 
half yearly in the several counties. As judges of the superior courts of 
law they have jurisdiction of all pleas, whether brought before them by 
original or mesne process, or by certiorari writs of error, or appeal from 
any inferior court, also of all pleas of the state, and criminal matters. As 
judges of the courts of equity, they have all the powers of courts of chan- 
cery. The judges of the supreme and superior courts are elected by the 
legislature, in joint ballot, and hold their offices during good behavior. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

The first constitution of this state was formed in 1775; the present 
constitution was adopted in 1790. 

The legislative authority is vested in a general assembly, consisting of 
a senate and a house of representatives. 

The senate consists of forty-five members, who are elected by districts 
for four years, one half being chosen biennially. 



342 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

The house of representatives consists of one hundred and twenty-fouT 
members, who are apportioned among the several districts, according to 
the number of white inhabitants and taxation, and are elected for two 
years. The representatives and one half of the senators are chosen every 
second year, on the second Monday in October, and the day following. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected for two 
years, by a joint vote of the senate and house of representatives, at every 
first meeting of the house of representatives. A governor, after having 
performed the duties of the office for two years, can not be re-elected till 
after the expiration of four years. 

At the time of the election of governor, a lieutenant-governor is chosen 
in the same manner, and for the same period. 

The general assembly meets annually, at Colujnhia, on the fourth Mon- 
day in November. 

The judicial power is vested in such superior and inferior courts of law 
and equity as the legislature shall, from time to time, direct and establish. 
In December, 1835, a change was made in the judiciary, though the judges 
remained the same. The old court of appeals of three judges was abol- 
ished, and two of the judges were made chancellors in equity, and the 
other one of the common law judges. The present court of appeals is 
constituted of the judges of the courts of law, and chancellors, who meet 
twice a year at Columbia, and twice a year at Charleston. There are four 
chancellors in equity, and seven judges of the general sessions and com- 
mon pleas. The chancellor and judges are appointed by joint ballot 
of the senate and house of representatives, and hold their offices during 
good behavior. 

The constitution grants the right of suffrage to every free white male 
citizen, of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state two 
years previous to the day of election, and having been possessed of a 
freehold of fifty acres of land, or a town lot, at least six months before 
such election, or (not having such freehold or town lot) having been a res- 
ident in the election district in which he offers his vote, six months before 
said election, and having paid a tax the preceding year, of three shillings 
sterling toward the support of the government. 

GEORGIA. 

The first constitution of Georgia was formed in 1777; a second in 
1785 ; and a third, the one now in operation, in 1798. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representa- 
tives, which together are styled the General Assemhhj. 

The members of both houses are chosen annually, by the people, on 
the first Monday in October. The number of representatives is in propor- 
tion to population, including three fifths of all the people of color ; but each 
county is entitled to at least one member. The constitution was altered 
by the legislature in 1844, so as to divide the state into forty-seven senato- 
rial districts, and to reduce the number of representatives from 20J to 130. 
The legislature have the power of altering the constitution, provided two 
thirds of each branch agree on amendments proposed by one legislature, 
and confirmed by their successors by a two-third vote, at the following 
session. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who was formerly elected 
by the general assembly; but he is now (and since 1824) elected by 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 343 

the people, on the first Monday in October ; and he holds the office for 
two years. 

The general assembly meets at MiUedgeville, on the first Monday in 
November, unless convened at another time by the governor. 

The judicial power is vested in a superior court, and in such inferior ju- 
risdictions as the legislature may, from time to time, ordain and establish ; 
and the superior and inferior courts sit twice in each county every year. 
The state is divided into eleven circuits, with a judge of the superior 
court for each circuit. An inferior court is held in each county, composed 
of five justices, elected by the people every four years. These courts 
possess the powers of courts of probate. The judges of the superior 
court are elected by the legislature for three years ; the justices of the 
inferior courts, and justices of the peace are elected quadrennially by the 
\)eople ; and the clerks of the superior and inferior courts, biennially. 

The constitution grants the right of suffrage to all citizens and inhabit- 
ants who have attained the age of twenty-one years, and have paid all the 
taxes which may have been required of them, and which they may have 
had opportunity of paying, agreeably to law, for the year preceding the 
election, and shall have resided six months within the county. 

FLORIDA. 

The constitution of this state was formed by a convention of delegates 
chosen by the people, and was adopted by said convention in January, 
1839, but Florida remained under a territorial government until the 3d of 
March, 1845, when it was admitted into the Union as a state by act of 
Congress. 

The legislative power is vested in a General Assembly, consisting of a 
senate and house of representatives. The senators are elected by the 
people, in districts, for two years, one half of the number going out of 
ofiice every year. The present number of senators is seventeen. The 
representatives are elected by the people, by counties, annually, their 
number never to exceed sixty ; at present, forty-one are chosen. The 
annual election takes place on the first Monday in October, and the 
legislature meets at Tallahassee on the first Monday in November of each 
year. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is chosen by the 
people once in four years, and he is not eligible for the four years next 
succeeding his term of office. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, having appellate juris- 
diction only, and composed of the circuit judges for five years after the 
election of those judges, and thereafter until the general assembly shall 
otherwise provide ; also in circuit courts, the state being divided into four 
circuits, in each of which a judge of the supreme court has jurisdiction. 
These judges have also equity powers until a separate .chancery court 
shall be established by the legislature. The judges are elected by the 
legislature, at first for five years ; after that term, during good behavior. 
There are also courts of probate, held by a judge of probate, one being 
appointed for each county in the state. 

The right of suffrage may be exercised by every free white male, aged 
twenty-one years, or upward, who has resided in Florida for two years, 
and in the county for six months, and who shall be enrolled in the militia, 
or by law exempted from serving therein. The general assembly shall 
provide for the registration of all qualified voters. 



344 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

No laws shall be passed to emancipate slaves, or to prohibit the immi- 
gration of persons bringing slaves with them. The general assembly 
may prevent free colored persons from entering the state. 

No act of incorporation shall be passed or altered, except by the assent 
of two thirds of each branch of the legislature. No bank charter shall 
be granted for more than twenty years, nor shall it ever be extended or 
renewed. The capital of a bank shall not exceed one hundred thousand 
dollars, nor shall a dividend be made, exceeding ten per cent, a year. 
Stockholders shall be individually liable for the debts of the bank, and no 
notes shall be issued for less than five dollars. The credit of the state 
shall not be pledged in aid of any corporation whatsoever. 

For an amendment of the constitution, two thirds of both houses of the 
general assembly must assent ; the proposed alteration must then be pub- 
lished six months before the succeeding election, and then be again ap- 
proved by a two-third vote in the succeeding assembly. 

ALABAMA. 

The legislative power is vested in two branches, a senate and house of 
representatives, which together are styled, the General Assembly of the 
State of Alabama. 

The representatives are elected annually, and are apportioned among 
the different counties in proportion to the white population ; the whole 
number can not exceed one hundred, nor fall short of sixty. The present 
number is one hundred. The senators are elected for three years, and 
one third of them are chosen every year. Their number can not be more 
than one third, nor less than one fourth of the number of representatives. 
There are thirty-three at present. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected by the 
people for two years ; and is eligible four years out of six. 

The representatives and one third of the senators are elected annually 
on the first Monday in August, and the day following ; and the governor 
is elected biennially at the same time. 

The general assembly meets annually, formerly at Tuscaloosa, in future 
at Montgomery, on the fourth Monday in October. 

The right of suflrage is possessed by every white male citizen of twenty- 
one years of age, who has resided within the state one year preceding an 
election, and the last three months within the county, city, or town, in 
which he offers his vote. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court (consisting of three jus- 
tices), which has appellate jurisdiction only ; in a court of chancery, consist- 
ing of three chancellors, the state being divided into three chancery dis- 
tricts ; in circuit courts, each held by one judge, the state being divided 
into eight circuits, and such inferior courts as the legislature may es- 
tablish. The judges of the supreme and circuit courts, and the chancel- 
lors, are elected by a joint vote of the two houses of the general assembly, 
for six years. 

MISSISSIPPI. 

The original constitution of this state was formed at the town of Wash- 
ington, near Natchez, in August, 1817; and the present revised constitu- 
tion was formed by a convention, at Jackson, in October, 1832. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house* of representa- 
tives, together styled the Legislature of Mississippi. The senators are 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 345 

chosen for four years, by the people, by districts, one hnlf being elected 
biennially ; and their number can not be less than one fourth, nor more 
than one third of the whole number of representatives. 

The representatives are chosen by the people, by counties, every two 
years, on the first Monday in November, and the day following ; their 
number not to be less than thirty-six nor more than one hundred, which 
last is the present number fixed. The legislature meets at Jackson, on 
the first Monday in January, biennially. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is chosen by the 
people, qualified as electors, for two years, and can not hold the office 
more than four years, in anv term of six years. The secretary of state, 
treasurer, and auditor of public accounts, are all chosen by the people, for 
two years. 

The judicial power is vested in a high court of errors and appeals, held 
at least twice a year, consisting of three judges, chosen by the people for 
six years, one being elected in each of the three districts into which the 
state is divided, and one of the three judges being chosen biennially ; in 
a circuit court, held in each county at least twice in each year, the judges 
being chosen by the people of each judicial district, and holding their 
office four years ; in a superior court of chancery, the chancellor being 
chosen bv the people of the whole state for six years ; in a court of pro- 
bate, the jud?^e being elected by the people of each county for two years ; 
justices of the peace and constables are also elected for two years. 

Every free white male person, of the age of twenty-one year^ or up- 
ward, who shall be a citizen of the United States, and shall have resided 
in the state one year next preceding an election, and the last four months 
within the county, city, or town, in which he offers to vote, is a qualified 
elector. The mode of election is by ballot. 

LOUISIANA. 

The original constitution of this state was forined in 1812, and the pres- 
ent revised constitution formed by a convention of delegates in May, 
1845, was accepted by the people in November, 1845. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representa- 
tives, both together styled the General Assembly of tlie State of Louisiana. 

The senators are elected by the people, by districts, for a term of four 
years, one half being chosen every two years, at the time of the election 
of representatives. The present number of senators is thirty-two. 

The representatives are elected by the people by parishes, apportioned 
according to population, for a term of two years. Their present number 
is ninety-eight. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected by the 
people for a term of four years ; and is ineligible for the next four years. 

The biennial elections are held in November, and the sessions of the 
legislature are to be held biennially, at such place as may be fixed upon 
by the legislature, which must not be at New Orleans, or within sixty 
miles of that city. The sessions are to commence in January, and the 
period of the session is limited to sixty days. 

The legislature is prohibited from granting any bank charters, or renew- 
ing any now in existence ; it is prohibited also from loaning the credit of 
the state, or borrowing money, except in case of war, invasion, or insur- 
rection. 



346 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION'S. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court of five judges, which 
has appellate jurisdiction only, and such inferior courts as the legislature 
may establish. The state is divided into ten districts, in each of which 
there is a judge for the district courts. The life-tenure of the judges is 
abolished by the new constitution ; those of the supreme court are to be 
appointed for eight years, and of the lower courts for six years. SherifTs, 
coroners, clerks of court and justices of the peace, are to be elected by 
the people. 

The right of suffrage is extended to all white males above twenty-one 
years of age, who have resided two consecutive years in the state ; pro- 
vided that no naturalized citizen can vote until two years after he becomes 
a citizen. 

All citizens are disfranchised, both as to voting and holding office, who 
may nght, or in any way be connected with fighting a duel, either in or 
out of the state. 

ARKANSAS. 

The constitution of this state was formed by a convention of delegates, 
at Little Rock, in January, 1836. 

The legislative power is vested in a general assembly, consisting of a 
senate and house of representatives. 

The senators are elected by the people, by districts, for a term of four 
years ; the representatives by counties, for two years. The senate con- 
sists of not less than seventeen nor more than thirty-three members ; the 
house of representatives of not less than fifty-four, nor more than one 
hundred members. 

The general elections are holden every two years, on the first Monday 
in October, and the general assembly meets biennially, at Little Rock, on 
the first Monday of November. All general elections are to be viva voce, 
until otherwise directed by law. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, elected by the people 
once in four years ; but he is not eligible for more than eight years in any 
term of twelve years. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court of three justices, hav- 
ing appellate jurisdiction only, except in particular cases pointed out by 
the constitution ; in circuit courts, of which there are seven in the state, 
each held by one judge ; in county courts and justices of the peace. 

The judges of the supreme and circuit courts are chosen by the gene- 
ral assembly, the former for a term of eight years, the latter for four years. 
Justices of the peace are elected by the people for a term of two years. 
Judges of the county courts are chosen by the justices of the peace. 

Every white male citizen of the United States, who has been a citizen 
of the state of Arkansas for six months, is deemed a qualified elector, 
and entitled to vote at elections. Provided that soldiers and seamen of 
the army or navy of the United States are not so entitled. 

TENNESSEE. 

In 1796, the people of Tennessee, by a convention at Knoxville, formed 
a constitution ; and Tennessee was, the same year, admitted into the 
Union as an independent state. On the third Monday in May, 1834, a 
convention met at Nashville, for the pupose of revising and amending the 
constitution ; and the constitution, as amended by the convention, was rat- 
ified by the people in March, 1835. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 347 

The legislative authority is vested in u general assembly, consistino- of 
a senate and house of representatives. 

The number of representatives is apportioned among the several 
counties, according to the number of qualified voters, and can not exceed 
seventy-five (the present number), until the population shall be a million 
and a half, and can never afterward exceed ninety-nine. 

The number of senators is apportioned among the several coun- 
ties according to the number of A'^oters, and can not exceed one third of 
the number of representatives. The present number is twenty-five. 

The time for the election of the governor, senators, and representatives, 
is on the first Thursday in August, once in two years, and the time of the 
meeting of the general assembly is on the first Monday in October, next 
ensuing the election, at Nashville. 

The supreme executive power is vested in a governor, who is chosen 
by the people for two years, and is not eligible more than six years in any 
term of eight. 

Every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, being a citizen 
of the United States, and a citizen of the county wherein he may ofi'er 
his vote, six months next preceding the day of election, is entitled to vote 
for civil officers. 

The judicial power is vested in one supreme court, and such inferior 
courts as the legislature may, from time to time, ordain and establish, and 
in the judges thereof, and in justices of the peace. 

The supreme court is composed of three judges, one of whom must re- 
side in each of the three grand divisions of the state. The judges are 
elected by a joint vote of both houses of the general assembly, those of 
the supreme court for the term of twelve years, and those of the inferior 
courts for eight years. Attorneys for the state are elected in the same 
manner, for six years. 

Ministers of the gospel are not eligible to a seat in either house of the 
legislature. No person who denies the being of a God, or a future state 
of rewards and punishments, can hold any civil office. Lotteries are pro- 
hibited ; and persons who may be concerned in duels are disqualified for 
holding office in the state. 

KENTUCKY. 

On the separation of Kentucky from Virginia, in 1790, a constitution 
was adopted which continued in force till 1799, when a new one was 
formed instead of it; and this is now in force. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representatives, 
which together are styled the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky. 

The representatives are elected annually, and are apportioned, every 
four years, among the diff"erent counties, according to the number of elec- 
tors. Their present number is one hundred, which is the highest number 
that the constitution authorizes ; fifty-eight being the lowest. 

The senators are elected for four years, one quarter of them being cho- 
sen annually. Their present number is thirty-eight ; and they can not 
exceed this number, nor fall short of twenty-four. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected for four 
years, and is ineligible for the succeeding seven years after the expiration 
of his term of ofiice. At the election of governor, a lieutenant-governor is 



348 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

also chosen, who is speaker of the senate, and on whom the duties of the 
governor devolve, in case of his absence or removal. 

The representatives and* one quarter of the members of the senate are 
elected annually by the people, on the first Monday in August ; the gov- 
ernor is elected by the people, every fourth year, at the same time ; and 
he commences the execution of his olTice on the fourth Tuesday succeed- 
ing the day of the commencement of the election at which he is chosen. 
The polls are kept open three days ; and the votes are given openly, or 
viva voce, and not by ballot. 

The general assembly meets at Frankfort annually, on the first Monday 
in December. 

The constitution grants the right of sufl^rage to every free male citizen 
(people of color excepted) who has attained the age of twenty-one years, 
and has resided in the state two years, or in the county where he offers 
his vote, one year, next preceding the election. 

The judiciary power is vested in a supreme court, styled the court of 
appeals, and in such inferior courts as the general assembly may, from 
time to time, erect and establish. The judges of the different courts, and 
justices of the peace, hold their offices during good behavior. 

OHIO. 

The constitution of this slate was formed at Chillicothe, in 1802. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representatives, 
which together are style the General Assembly of the State of Ohio. 

The representatives are elected annually on the second Tuesday in 
October ; and they are apportioned among the counties according to the 
number of white male inhabitants above twenty-one years of age. Their 
number can not be less than thirty-six, nor more than seventy-two. 

The senators are chosen biennially, and are apportioned according to the 
number of white male inhabitants of twenty-one years of age. Their 
number can not be less than one third, nor more than one half of the num- 
ber of representatives. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected by the 
people for two years on the second Tuesday in October ; and his term of 
service commences on the first Monday in December. 

The general assembly meets annually, at Columbus, on the first Mon- 
day in December. 

The right of suffrage is granted to all white male inhabitants above the 
age of twenty-one years, who have resided in the state one year next pre- 
ceding the election, and who have paid, or are charged with, a state or 
county tax. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, in courts of comm.on 
pleas for each county, and such other courts as the legislature may from 
time to time establish. The judges are elected by a joint ballot of both 
houses of the general assembly, for the term of seven years. 

INDIANA. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected by the 
people, for a term of three years, and may be once re-elected. At every 
election of governor, a lieutenant-governor is also chosen, who is presi- 
dent of the senate, and on whom, in case of the death, resignation, or re- 
moval of the governor, the powers and duty of governor devolve. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 349 

The legislative authority is vested in a General Assembly, consisting of 
a senate, the members of which are elected for three years, and a house 
of representatives, elected annually. 

The number of representatives can never be less than thirty-six, nor 
more than one hundred ; and they are apportioned among the several 
counties according to the number of vvhite male inhabitants above twenty- 
one years of age. The number of senators, who are apportioned in like 
manner, can not be less than one third, nor more than one half, of the 
number of representatives. 

The representatives and one third of the members of the senate are 
elected annually, on the first Monday in August ; and the governor is cho- 
sen on the same day, every third year. 

The general assembly meets annually, at Indianapolis, on the first Mon- 
day in December. , 

The right of sufTrage is granted to all male citizens of the age of twen- 
ty-one years or upward, who may have resided in the state one year im- 
mediately preceding an election. 

The judiciary power is vested in one supreme court, in circuit courts, 
and in such other inferior courts as the general assembly may establish. 
The supreme court consists of three judges ; and each of the circuit 
courts consists of a president and two associate judges. The judges are 
all appointed for the term of seven years. The judges of the supreme 
court are appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate ; the 
presidents of the circuit courts, by the legislature ; and the associate 
judges are elected by the people. 

ILLINOIS. 

The original constitution of lUinois was framed in August, 1818. 
The present constitution was adopted by a state convention in August, 
1847, and accepted by the people in March, 1848. 

The legislative authority is vested in a general assembly, consisting of 
a senate, the members of which, twenty-five in number, are elected for 
four years, one half every two years ; and of a house of representatives, 
seventy-five in number, elected for two years. These numbers to be in- 
creased after the population of the state shall be one million, but the num- 
ber of representatives shall never exceed one hundred. Senators must be 
thirty years of age, and five years inhabitants of the state. Representa- 
tives must be twenty-five years of age, citizens of the United States, and 
three years inhabitants of the state. 

The governor and lieutenant-governor, chosen by a plurality of votes, 
once in four years, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 
shall be thirty-five years of age, citizen of the United States for fourteen 
years, and residents of the state for ten years. The governor is not eligi- 
ble for two consecutive terms. A majority of members elected to both 
houses may defeat the governor's veto. A majority of the members 
elected to each house, is required for the passage of any law. 

The general assembly meets biennially at Springfield, on the first Mon- 
day in January ; and the governor is autiiorized to convene it on extraor- 
dinary occasions at other times. 

All white male citizens, twenty-one years old, resident in the state for 
one year, may vote at elections. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court of three judges, elected 



350 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

by the people, for a term of nine years at the first election, and afterward 
for three years ; also in circuit courts of one judge each, elected by the 
people in nine judicial circuits into which the state is divided ; and county 
courts of one judge each elected by the people for four years. 

No state-bank can be created or revived. Acts creating banks must be 
submitted to the people. Stockholders are individually liable to the 
amount of their shares. Slavery and lotteries are prohibited. The credit 
of the state can not be lent. Corporations, not for banking purposes, may 
be established under general laws. 

MICHIGAN. 

The constitution of Michigan was formed by a couA'^ention of delegates 
at Detroit, in May, 183.5, and ratified by the people in October following. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representa- 
tives. The senators are elected by the people, by districts, for a term of 
two years, one half of the whole number, as nearly as may be, being 
chosen annually. The representatives are elected by the people, by 
counties, annually, and their number can not be less than forty-eight, nor 
more than one hundred ; the senators at all times are to be equal, as nearly 
as may be, to one third of the number of the house of representatives. 
The present number of senators is eighteen ; of representatives, fifty-three. 

The annual election is held on the first Monday in November, and the 
following day. The legislature met at Detroit, until the year 1847, 
when the seat of government was permanently located at Lansing. 

The supreme executive power is vested in a governor, elected by the 
people, who holds his office for two years, and a lieutenant-governor, who 
is chosen at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same term, as 
the governor. The lieutenant-governor is president of the senate. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, consisting of a chief- 
justice and three associate justices ; in a court of chancery, held by a 
chancellor, at five different parts of the state within the year, the state 
being divided into five chancery circuits ; in circuit courts, there being 
four judicial circuits, in each of which one of the judges of the supreme 
court sits as presiding judge (in each county one or two terms of tbe cir- 
cuit court are held annually) ; also in county courts, and in such other 
courts as the legislature may from time to time establish. The judges of 
the supreme court are appointed by the governor and senate for the term 
of seven years. Judges of all county courts, associate judges of circuit 
courts, and judges of probate, are elected by the people for the term of 
four years. Each township is authorized to elect four justices of the 
peace, who hold their offices for four years. 

In all elections, every white male above the age of twenty-one years, 
having resided in the state six months next preceding any election, is en- 
titled to vote at such election. All votes are given by ballot, except for 
such township officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen. 

Slavery, lotteries, and the sale of lottery tickets, are prohibited. 

MISSOUBI. 

The constitution of this state was formed by a convention at St. Louis, 
in June, 1820. In January, 1846, a new constitution was formed by a 
state convention at Jefferson; which was submitted to the people on the 
first Monday of August in the latter year, and rejected. The constitution 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 351 

adopted in 1820, is therefore, still in force, and the outlines thereof are as 
follows : — 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representa- 
tives, styled together the General Asscmhhj. The senators, in num- 
ber not fewer than fourteen, nor more than thirty-three, shall be thirty years 
old, have the qualification of representatives, be inhabitants of the state 
for four years, and shall be chosen by districts, for four years, one half 
every second year. The representatives, in number not more than one 
hundred, shall be chosen in counties every second year ; they must be 
free white male citizens of the United States, twenty-four years old, in- 
habitants of the state for two years and of the county for one year next 
before the election. Every free white male citizen of the United States, 
twenty-one years old, resident in the state one year before the election, and 
three months in the place where he offers his vote, may vote at elections. 

The elections are held biennially, on the first Monday in August. The 
legislature meets every second year, on the first Monday in November, at 
the city of Jeflerson. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is elected by the 
people, once in four years, and is ineligible for the next four years. A 
lieutenant-governor is also chosen, for the same term, who is, ex officio, 
president of the senate. The governor and lieutenant-governor must be 
thirty-five years old, natives of the Unhed States, or citizens thereof at the 
adoption of the constitution. The governor may veto a bill, but a majority 
of both houses may pass it, notwithstanding his veto. If the office of 
governor be vacant, it shall 'be filled by the lieutenant-governor, and after 
him by the president of the senate ipro tern. 

The supreme court consists of three judges, appointed by the governor 
and senate, and has appellate jurisdiction only. Circuit courts have ex- 
clusive criminal jurisdiction, unless depriv.ed of it by law, and hear all 
civil cases not cognizable by a justice of the peace. The equity jurisdic- 
tion is divided between the circuit and supreme courts, .fudges of the su- 
preme court must be thirty years old, may hold office until sixty-five, and may 
be removed upon address of two thirds of both houses of the legislature. 

One bank, and no more, may be established, with not more than five 
branches, and a total capital of not more than five millions of dollars, one 
half, at least, reserved to the state. 

The general assembly, by a vote of two thirds of the members, may 
propose amendments to the constitution, and if, at the first session there- 
after, they are confirmed by a vote of two thirds of the members, they be- 
come part of the constitution. 

IOWA. 

The constitution of the state of Iowa, was adopted by a state conven- 
tion at Iowa city, on the 18th of May, 1846, and accepted by the people 
in August of the same year. 

The general assembly consists of a senate and house of representatives, 
the sessions of which, held at Iowa city, are biennial, commencing on the 
first Monday in December after their election, which takes place on the 
first Monday of August, biennially. Senators, not less than one third, nor 
more than one half as numerous as the representatives, must be twenty- 
five years of age, chosen for four years, one half biennially. Representatives 
shall be chosen for two years ; they must be twenty-one years of age, and 
have resided in the state one year at least, and in their district thirty days 



352 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

previous to the election. The representatives shall not be less than twen- 
ty-six, nor more than thirty-nine, till the white population amounts to one 
liundred and seventy-five thousand ; afterward they shall not be less than 
thirty-nine, nor more than seventy-two. 

Every white male citizen of the United States, twenty-one years old, 
idiots, insane, or infamous persons excepted, having resided in the state 
six months, and in the county where he claims to vote twenty days, has the 
right of suffrage. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, chosen by a plurality of 
votes for a term of four years ; he must be thirty years old, and have re- 
sided in the state for two years. If the governor, for anv cause, be dis- 
abled, the secretary of the state, and after him the president of the sen- 
ate, and after him the speaker of the house, acts as governor. 

The judicial authority is vested in a supreme court, consisting of a chief 
justice and two associates, elected by the general assembly for six years ; 
in district courts, the judges of which are elected by the people in their 
respective districts, each for five years ; and in justices of the peace. 

No state debts can be created exceeding one hundred thousand dollars, 
except in case of war or insurrection, unless authorized by a special law 
approved by a majority of the votes of the people. No corporation with 
banking privileges shall be created, and private banking shall be prohibit- 
ed by law. Other corporations may be organized under general laws, 
with certain restrictions. The state shall never become a stockholder in 
any corporation. A superintendent of public instruction is chosen by the 
people once in three years ; also a secretary of state, an auditor, and a 
treasurer, once in two years. 

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of 
crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this state. To amend the constitution, 
the general assembly must submit the question of a convention to the peo- 
ple at the next general election ; and if a majority are in favor thereof, 
the assembh' shall provide for the election of delegates to a convention to 
be held in six months after the vote of the people in favor thereof. 

WISCONSIN. 

The constitution was adopted by a state convention at Madison city, 
February 1, 1848. The legislature consists of a senate and assembly, 
and meets annually on the first Monday in January, at Madison. 

The senators, in number not more than one third, nor fewer than one 
fourth, of the assembly, are chosen by the people, in districts for two 
years, one half each year. Members of the assembly, in number not 
fewer than fifty-four, nor more than one hundred, must be qualified elec- 
tors in their districts, resident one year in the state, and chosen annually 
on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November. 

All males twenty-one years old, residents of the state for one year next 
before the election, who are white citizens of the United States, or white 
foreioners who have declared their intention to become citizens, or per- 
sons of Indian blood, once declared by the laws of the United States to 
be citizens, or civilized persons of Indian descent, not members of a tribe, 
may vote at elections. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, who is chosen by the 
people, by a plurality of votes, for a term of two years. In default of the 
governor, his duties are discharged by a lieutenant-governor, who is cho- 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 353 

sen by a plurality of votes, for the same term and with the same qualifica- 
tions as the governor, and is president of the senate, with a castino- vote. 
The governor's veto may be overruled by a vote of two thirds of the mem- 
bers present in each house. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, in circuit courts, 
judges of probate, and justices of the peace, all elected by the people. 
Judges of the circuit courts are chosen at a separate election by the people, 
by circuits, for six years. The same judges sit as a supreme court, to try 
cases upon appeal, without a jury. The legislature may erect a separate 
supreme court, to consist of three judges chosen by the people for six years, 
in which case, the number of circuit judges may be reduced. Probate jud- 
ges and justices of the peace are elected by the people for two years. In 
every organized county the legislature may appoint one or more persons, 
with powers not exceeding those of a circuit judge at chambers. 

The credit of the state shall never be lent ; nor shall any debt be con- 
tracted, nor money paid for internal improvements, unless the state hold 
trust property dedicated to such purposes. Except in case of war, inva- 
sion, or insurrection, no debt shall be contracted, exceeding one hundred 
thousand dollars. The legislature shall prevent towns and cities from 
contracting debts. No general or special law to create a bank, or banks 
shall be passed, till a majority of the votes at a general election shall have 
been in favor of a bank, and until such a majority have afterward approved 
the act as passed. Corporations, except banks, may be created under 
general laws, but not by special acts, except in specified cases. 

Slavery and imprisonment for debt are prohibited. A state superintend- 
ent of education shall be chosen by the people. 

Amendments to the constitution agreed to by a majority of members of 
both houses of the legislature, if again approved by a majority of the suc- 
ceeding legislature, shall be submitted to the people, and if approved by 
a majority of their votes, shall become a part of the constitution. A ma- 
jority of each house may recommend a convention to change the consti- 
tution, and a majority of votes at a general election afterward, may author- 
ize the calling of such convention. 

TEXAS. 

The constitution of the state of Texas was adopted by a convention of 
delegates at the city of Austin, in August, 1845, and was approved by the 
people on the 13th of October following. 

The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of representatives, 
styled together the Legislature of the State of Texas. The style of laws 
is, " Be it enacted by the legislature of the state of Texas." 

The senators are elected by the people, by districts, for the term of four 
years, one half being chosen biennially ; their number is not to be less than 
nineteen, nor more than thirty-one. The representatives are elected for 
two years, by the people, by counties, apportioned according to their free 
population ; the number is not to be less than forty-five nor more than ninety. 

Elections by the people are to be held in the several counties, cities, or 
towns, at such times as may be designated by law. The sessions of the 
legislature are to be held at the city of Austin, at such times as may be 
prescribed by law, until the year 1850, when the seat of government shall 
be permanently located by the votes of the people. 

The executive power is vested in a governor, elected by the people, at 
23 



354 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

the time and places of elections for members of the legislature ; he holds 
his office for the term of two years, but is not eligible for more than four 
years in any term of six years. At the same time, a lieutenant-governor 
is chosen for the same term, who is president of the senate, and succeeds 
the governor in case of death, resignation, removal from office, inability, 
refusal to serve, impeachment, or absence from the state, of the latter. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court of three judges, in dis- 
trict courts, and in such inferior courts as the legislature may, from time 
to time, establish. The judges of the supreme and district courts are ap- 
pointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of two thirds of the 
senate ; and the judges hold their offices for six years. 

The right of suffrage is granted to every free male person over the age 
of twenty-one years (Indians not taxed, Africans, and descendants of Af- 
ricans, excepted), who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, 
and who shall be a citizen of the United States, or who was, at the adop- 
tion of this constitution by the Congress of the United States, a citizen 
of the republic of Texas, and shall have resided in this state one year 
next preceding an election, and the last six months within the district, 
city, or town, in which he offers to vote ; provided that soldiers and sea- 
men or marines of the army or navy of the United States, shall not be 
entitled to vote at any election created by this constitution. 

The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation 
of slaves, without the consent of their owners. No banking or discount- 
ing company shall hereafter be created, renewed, or extended. No per- 
son shall be imprisoned for debt. 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

In the six New England states, the executive and legislative branches 
of the government are all elected annually. The representation in the 
lower branch of the legislature is more numerous in those states than in 
the other states of the Union ; the representatives in the New England 
states being elected by towns to the house of representatives, while in all 
other parts of the Union the representation in that branch of the legisla- 
ture is by counties ; districts in South Carolina, and parishes in Louisiana, 
being local divisions synonymous with counties. 

An executive council, elected by the people, is peculiar to the state of 
New Hampshire. There are, however, executive councils, elected by the 
legislature, in Maine, Massachusetts, Virginia, and North Carolina. 

The governor possesses the veto power, or qualified negative, on bills 
and resolutions which have been passed by the legislature, in the follow- 
ing twelve states, viz. : Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New 
York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan, Texas, 
Iowa, and Wisconsin ; in these states the executive veto can only be over- 
ruled by a two third vote of both branches of the legislature. 

In the following ten, states the governor may return bills or resolutions 
passed by the legislature, but his veto may be overruled by a majority of 



SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 355 

the members elected to both houses, viz. : Vermont, Connecticut, New Jer- 
sey, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Mis- 
souri. 

In the following eight states, the approval of the governor is not required 
to bills or resolutions passed by the legislature, but the same may become 
laws, after receiving the signature of the speaker or presiding officer of 
each branch of the legislature, viz. : Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, 
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio. 

In all of the states, except Virginia and South Carolina, the governor 
is elected by the people ; in those two states he is chosen by the legisla- 
ture. Lieutenant-governors are chosen by the people in Massachusetts, 
Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Kentucky, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan, and Texas ; in Virginia and South 
Carolina, by the legislature. In the other states, the office of lieutenant- 
governor does not exist. 

In the New England states, a majority of all the votes given is required 
to constitute a choice, in elections generally, by the people ; there are 
exceptions in Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut, in elections for state 
senators, and in Connecticut, on second trials, at adjourned meetings, 
for the choice of representatives to the general assembly, in which cases 
a plurality of votes only is required for a choice. In Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, and Connecticut, members of Congress are also elected by plurality. 
In all of the states except those of New England, a plurality of votes 
given effects a choice in elections by the people. 

In all of the states, at popular elections, the manner of voting is by 
ballot, except in Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas, in which 
states, in all elections to any office of trust, honor, or profit, with excep- 
tions as to electors of president and vice-president, the votes are given 
openly, or viva voce, and not by ballot. 

North Carolina is now the only state which requires a freehold qualifi- 
cation for electors for either branch of the legislature, members of the 
senate in that state being chosen by freemen possessed of a freehold with- 
in the district where they reside and vote, of fifty acres of land. In Vir- 
ginia, freeholders may vote for members of the house of delegates, in any 
county where they own a freehold of the value named in the constitution ; 
housekeepers and heads of families who shall have been assessed with a 
part of the revenue of the commonwealth, within the preceding year when 
they vote, are also entitled to vote at elections. 

Persons of color are entitled to vote at elections in the states of 
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In 
the state of New York, they are also qualified to vote, if possessed of a 
freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, without any 
incumbrance. In all other slates of the Union, persons of color, or those 
of African descent, are excluded from the right of voting at elections. 



356 SYNOPSIS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

Ministers of the gospel are not eligible as legislators in Maryland, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. In South Carolina, Ken- 
tucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri, they are eligible neither as 
governors nor legislators. In Delaware, they are not eligible to any office 
whatever. 

New Hampshire and Massachusetts are the only states whose constitu- 
tions make provision for religious establishments. In New Hampshire 
the legislature is empowered to authorize, and in Massachusetts the legis- 
lature is enjoined to require, the several towns, parishes, &c., in the state 
to make adequate provision, at their own expense, for the support and 
maintenance o{ protestant teachers, or ministers of the gospel. The con- 
stitution of 'New Hampshire requires the governor, members of the coun- 
cil, and of both branches of the legislature, to be " of the protestant re- 
ligion." 

The council of censors is peculiar to Vermont ; that body is chosen 
once in seven years, and among their other powers, they can call a con- 
vention to amend the constitution of the state. 

Massachusetts and New Hampshire are the only states whose consti- 
tutions appoint titles to the officers of government. The governor of Mas- 
sachusetts is entitled " His Excellency," and the lieutenant-governor " His 
Honor" The governor of New Hampshire is entitled " His Excellency.''^ 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

Of the principal political and other Events in American History^ from the 
Discovery in 1492 to 1849. 

1492. Aug. 3, Columbus sets sail from Palos, in Spain. 

" Oct. 12, First land discovered (one of the Bahamas). 

" " 27, Cuba discovered. 

" Dec. 6, Hayti or Hispaniola discovered. 

1493. Jan. 16, Columbus returns to Spain. 

" Sept. 25, Columbus sails from Cadiz on his second voyage. 

" Dec. 8, Columbus lays the foundation of Isabella, in Hispaniola, the first 
European town in the New World. 

1494. May 5, Jamaica discovered. 

1496. Mar. 10, Columbus sails again for Spain. 

1497. June 24, Newfoundland discovered by the Cabots. 

1498. May 30, Columbus sails from Spain on his third voyage. 
" July 31, Trinidad discovered. 

" Aug. 1, America discovered by Columbus. 

1499. June 16, America discovered by Americus Vespucius. 

1500. Amazon river discovered by Pinzon. 

" April 23, Brazil discovered by Cabral. 

1502, May 11, Columbus sails on his last voyage. 

" Aug. 14, Bay of Honduras discovered by Columbus. 

1504. Sept. 2, Columbus returns to Spain. 

1506. May 20, Columbus dies, in his fifty-ninth year. 

1508. St. Lawrence river first navigated by Aubert. 

1512. April 2, Florida discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon. 

" Baracoa, the first town in Cuba, built by Diego Velasquez. 

1513. Sept. 25, Pacific ocean discovered by Vasco Nunez de Balboa. 

1516. Rio de la Plata discovered by Juan Diaz de Solis. 

1517. Patent granted by Charles V. for an annual import of 4,000 negro slaves tO 

Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. 

" Yucatan discovered by Francis Hernandez Cordova. 

1519. Mar. 13, Cortes lands at Tabasco, in Mexico. 
" April 22, Cortes arrives at San Juan de Ulloa. 
" Vera Cruz settled by Cortes. 

" Nov. 8, Cortes enters Mexico. 

1520. Montezuma dies. 

" Nov. 7, Straits of Magellan discovered by Ferdinand Magellan. 

1521. Aug. 13, Mexico taken by Cortes. 

1522. Bermudas discovered by Juan Bermudez. 
1525. First invasion of Peru by Pizarro and Almagro. 
1528. Pizarro appoiated governor of Peru. 

1531. Second invasion of Peru by Pizarro. 

1532. ' First colony founded in Peru by Pizarro. 
1535. Chili invaded by Almagro. 

1537. California discovered by Cortes. 

1539. May 18, Ferdinand de Soto sails from Havana, on an expedition for the con- 
quest of Florida. 

1541. Aug. 6, Orellana explores the Amazon, and arrives at the ocean. 

1545. Mines of Potosi, in South America, discovered. 

1548. Platina discovered in the south of Mexico. 

1563. Slaves first imported into the West Indies by the English. 

1576. Elizabeth's and Frobisher's straits discovered by Martin Frobisher. 

1585. June 26, Virginia visited by Sir Walter Raleigh. 



358 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 

1586. Tobacco introduced into England by Mr. Lane. 

1587, Aug. 13, first Indian baptized in Virginia. 

1602. May 15, Cape Cod named by Bartholemew Gosnold. 

"■ " 21, Martha's Vineyard discovered by Gosnold. 

1607. May 13, Jamestown, Virginia, founded. 

1608. July 3, Quebec founded. 

1609. Hudson river discovered by Henry Hudson. 
1611. Lake Champlain discovered by Champlain. 

1616. Baffin's bay discovered by Baffin. 

1617. Pocahontas dies in England. 

1619. June 19, first general assembly in Virginia. 

1619. May 20, Long Island sound first navigated by Dermer. 

1620. Aug. 5, Puritans sail from Southampton, England, for America. 
" Nov. 10, Puritans anchor at Cape Cod. 

*' " first white child born in New England. 

" Dec. 11, first landing at Plymouth. 

*' " 25, first house built at Plymouth. 

" Slaves first introduced into Virginia by the Dutch. 

1621. May 12, first marriage at Plymouth. 

1630. Boston settled. 

" Oct. 19, first general court of Massachusetts colony, holden at Boston. 

1631. Delaware settled by the Swedes. 

1632. First church built at Boston. 

1633. First house erected in Connecticut, at Windsor. 

1634. Maryland settled. 

" Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts. 

1636. Hartford, Connecticut, settled. 

" Providence founded by Roger Williams. 

1637. First synod convened at Newtown (now Cambridge), Massachusetts. 

1638. New Haven founded. 

" Harvard college founded. 

" June 1, earthquake in New England. 

1639. Jan. 14, convention at Hartford, Connecticut, for forming a constitution. 
" April, first general election at Hartford. 

" First printing-press established at Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Stephen Day. 

1642. Oct. 9, first commencement at Harvard college. 

1643. May 19, union of the New England colonies. 

1646. First act passed by the general court of Massachusetts, for the spread of the 

gospel among the Indians. 

1647. May 19, first general assembly of Rhode Island. 

1648. First execution for witchcraft. 
" New London settled. 

1650. Harvard college chartered. 

" Constitution of Maryland settled. 

1651. Navigation-act passed by Great Britain. 

1652. First mint established in New England. 
1654. Yale college first projected by Mr. Davenport. 

1663. Jan. 26, earthquake felt in New England, New Netherlands, and Canada. 

1664. Aug. 27, surrender of New Amsterdam to the English. 

1665. June 12, New York city incorporated. 

1672. First copyright granted by Massachusetts. 

1673. Mississippi river explored by Marquette and Joliet. 

1675. June 24, commencement of King Philip's war. 

1676. Aug. 12, death of King Philip. 

1681. Mar. 4, grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn. 

1682. Oct. 24, arrival of William Penn in America. 

" Louisiana taken possession of by M. de la Sale. 

1683. First legislative assembly in New York. 

" Roger Williams dies, in his eighty-fourth year. 

1686. First episcopal society formed in Boston. 

1687. First printing-press established near Philadelphia, by William Bradford 

1688. New York and New Jersey united to New England. 
1690. Feb. 8, Schenectady burned by the French and Indians. 

" First paper-money issued by Massachusetts. 

1692. William and Mary college, Virginia, chartered. 



CHROXOLOGICAL TABLE. 359 

1693. Episcopal church established at New York. 

" First printinci-press established in New York, by William Bradford. 

1695. Rice introduced into Carolina. 

1698. First French colony arrive at the mouth of the Mississippi. 

1699. Captain Kidd, the pirate, apprehended at Boston. 

1700. Episcopal church established in Pennsylvania. 

1701. Oct., Yale college chartered and founded at Saybrook. 

1702. Episcopal church established in New Jersey and Rhode Island. 

1703. Culture of silk introduced into Carolina. 

" Duty of £4 laid on imported negroes, in Massachusetts. 

1704. Tonnage duty laid by Rhode Island on foreign vessels. 

" Act " to prevent the growth of popery," passed by Maryland. 

" First newspaper (Boston News Letter) published at Boston, by Batholomew 
Green. 

1706. Bills of credit issued by Carolina. 

1709. First printing-press in Connecticut, established at New London, by Thomas 
Short. 

1711. South Sea Company incorporated. 

1712. Free schools founded in Charlestown, Massachusetts. 
1714. First schooner built at Cape Ann. 

1717. Yale college removed from Saybrook to New Haven. 

1718. Impost duties laid by Massachusetts on English manufactures and English 

ships. 

1719. First presbyterian church founded in New York. 

1720. Tea first used in New England. 

1721. Inoculation for smallpox introduced into New England. 

1722. Paper-money first issued in Pennsylvania. 

1725. First newspaper in New York (the New York Gazette), published by Wil- 

liam Bradford. 

1726. First printing-presses established in Virginia and Maryland. 

1727. Earthquake in New England. 

1730. First printing-press and newspaper established at Charleston, South Carolina. 

1732. Tobacco made a legal tender in Maryland at Id. per pound, and corn at 20d, 

per bushel. 

" Feb, 22, George Washington born, 

" First printing-press and newspaper established at Newport, Rhode Island. 

1733, Georgia settled. 

" Freemason's lodge first held in Boston. 

1737. Earthquake in New Jersey. 

1738. College founded at Princeton, New Jersey. 

1741. Jan. 1, General Magazine and Historical Chronicle, first published by Ben 

jamin Franklin. 

1742. Faneuil Hall erected at Boston. 
1750. First theatrical performance in Boston. 

1754. Columbia college founded in New York. 

1755. Defeat of General Braddock. 

" Sept. 8, battle of Lake George. 

" Earthquake in North America. 

" First newspaper (Connecticut Gazette) published at New Haven. 

1756. May 17, war declared with France by Great Britain. 

" First printing-press and newspaper established at Portsmouth, New Hamp- 
shire, by Daniel Fowle. 

1758. July 26, Louisburg taken by the English. 

" Aug. 27, Fort Frontenac taken by the English. 

" Nov. 25, Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh) taken by the English. 

1759. Ticonderoga taken by the English, 

" Sept. 18, Quebec taken by the English. 

1761. Mar. 12, earthquake in New England. 

1763. Feb. 10, treaty of peace signed at Paris, between the English and French. 
" First newspaper published in Georgia. 

1764. Mar., right to tax American colonies voted by house of commons. 
" April 5, first act for levying revenue passed by parliament. 

" " 21, Louisiana ordered to be given up to Spain. 

1765. Stamp act passed by parliament. 

" Mar. 22, stamp act receives the royal assent. 



360 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

1765. May 29, Virginia resolutions against the right of taxation. 
" June f), general congress [)roposed by Massachusetts. 

" Oct. 7, congress of twenty-eight delegates convenes at New York, and pub- 
lishes a declaration of rights. 

1766. Feb., Dr. Franklin examined before the house of commons, relative to the 

repeal of the stamp-act. 

" Mar. 18., stamp-act repealed. 

1767. Tax laid on paper, glass, painters' colors, and teas. 

1769. Dartmouth college incorporated. 

" American philosophical society instituted at Philadelphia. 

1770. Tea-plant introduced into Georgia. 

1773. Tea throw/i overboard at Boston. 

1774. Boston port-bill passed. 

" Sept. 4, first continental Congress at Philadelphia. 

" Dr. Franklin dismissed from the postofiice. 

1775. April 19, battle of Lexington. 

" May 10, Ticonderosa taken by the provincials. 

" June 17, battle of Bunker's Hill. 

" July 2, General Washington arrives at Cambridge. 

" Dec. 13, resolution of Congress to fit out a navy of thirteen ships. 

" " 31, assault on Quebec, and death of General Montgomery. 

1776. Jan. 3, battle near Princeton. 

" March 17, Boston evacuated by the British. 

" July 4, declaration of independence. 

" Sept. 11, battle of Brandywine. 

" " 15, the British take possession of New York. 

" " 27, the British take possession of Philadelphia. 

" Oct. 4, battle of Germantown. 

« " 22, battle of Red Bank. 

« " 28, battle of White Plains. 

" Nov. 16, capture of Fort Washington by the British. 

" Dec. 26, battle of Trenton. 

1777. Sept. 19, battle near Stillwater. 

1778. June 28, battle at Monmouth courthouse. 
" Dec. 29, Savannah taken by the British. 

1780. Aug. 16, battle near Camden. 

1781. Bank of North America established. 
" Jan. 17, battle of Cowpens. 

« March 15, battle of Guilford. 

" Sept. 5, Fort Trumbull, Conn., taken by Arnold, and New London burnt, 

" " 8, battle at Eutaw. 

" Oct. 19, surrender of Lord Cornwallis. 

1782. March 4, resolution of the house of commons in favor of peace. 

" April 19, independence of United States acknowledged by Holland. 

" July, evacuation of Savannah. 

" Dec. 14, evacuation of Charlestown. 

1783. Jan. 20, cessation of hostilities agreed on. 

" Feb. 5, independence of the United States acknowledged by Sweden. 

« " 25, " « « Denmark. 

" March 24, " « " Spain. 

« July, « « " Russia. 

" April 11, proclamation of peace by Congress. 

" " 19, peace proclaimed in the army by Washington. 

" Sept. 3, definitive treaty of peace signed at Paris. 

" Oct. 18, proclamation for disbanding the army. 

" Nov. 2, Washington's farewell orders. 

" " 25, New York evacuated by the British. 

1784. Feb., first voyage to China from New York. i 

1785. July 9, and Aus. 5, treaty with Prussia. 

1786. Shay's insurrection in Massachusetts. 

" Sept. 20, insurrection in New Hampshire. 

1787 Sept. 17, federal constitution agreed on by convention. 

1788. Federal constitution adopted. 

1789. March 3, George Washington elected president. 
" April 30, inauguration of George Washington. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 361 

1790. District of Columbia ceded by Virginia and Maryland. 
" May 29, constitution adopted by Rhode Island. 

1791. Mar. 4, Vermont admitted into the Union. 
" Bank of the United States established. 

" First folio Bible printed by Worcester of Mass. 

1792. June 1, Kentucky admitted into the Union. 

1793. Washington re-elected president. 
" Death of John Hancock. 

1794. Insurrection in Pennsylvania. 

1796. June 1, Tennessee admitted into the Union. 

'• Dec. 7, Washington's last speech to Congress. 

'1797. March 4, John Adams inaugurated president. 

1798. Washington reappointed commander-in chief. 

1799. Dec. 14, death of George Washington. 

1800. Seat of government removed to Washington. 
" May 13, disbanding of the provisional army. 

1801. March 4, Thomas Jefferson inaugurated president. 

1802. July 20, Louisiana ceded to France by Spain. 

1803. Feb. 19, Ohio admitted into the Union. 

1803. April 30, Louisiana purchased by the United States. 

" August, Commodore Preble bombards Tripoli. 

1805. June 3, treaty of peace with Tripoli. 

180(3. Expedition of Lewis and Clark to the mouth of the Columbia. 

1807. June 22, attack on the frigate Chesapeake. 
" July 2, interdict to armed British vessels. 

" Nov. II, British orders in council. 

" Dec. 17, Milan decree. 

" " 22, embargo laid by the American government. 

1808. Jan. 1, slave-trade abolished. 
" April 17,-Bayonne decree. 

1809. March 1, embargo repealed. 

" " 4, James Madison inaugurated president. 

1810. March 23, Rambouillet decree. 

1811. May 16, engagement between the frigate President and Little Belt. 
" Nov. 7, battle of Tippecanoe. 

1812. April 3, embargo laid for ninety days. 

" June 19, proclamation of war. (War declared June 18th.) 

" " 23, British orders in council repealed. 

" Aug. 15, surrender of General Hull. 

" Action between the frigates Constitution and Guerriere. 

" Nov., defeat at Queenstown. 

" Action between the Frolic and Wasp. 

« « " United States and Macedonian. 

" April 8, Louisiana admitted into the Union. 

1813. April 27, capture of York, Upper Canada. 
" May 27, battle of Fort George. 

" June 1, Chesapeake captured by the Shannon. 

" Sept. 10, Perry's victory on Lake Erie. 

« Oct. 5, battle of the Thames. 

" Dec. 13, Buffalo burnt. 

1814. March 28, action between the frigates Essex and Phoebe. 
" July 5, battle of Chippewa. 

" " 25, battle of Bridgewater. 

" August, Washington city captured, and capitol burnt. 

" " 9, 11, Stonington bombarded. 

" " 11, M'Donough's victory on Lake Champlain. 

" Sept. 12, battle near Baltimore. 

" Dec. 24, treaty of Ghent signed. 

" " 25, battle of New Orleans. 

1815. Feb. 17, treaty of Ghent ratified by the president. 
" March, war declared with Algiers. 

18 17. Mar. 4, James Monroe inaugurated president. 
" Dec. 10, Mississippi admitted into the Union. 

1818. Dec. 3, Illinois " " 

1819. Dec. 14, Alabama " " 



3G2 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

1819. May, first steamship sailed for Europe. 

1820. Mar. 15, Maine admitted into the Union. 

1821. July 1, Jackson takes possession of Florida. 
" Aug. 10, Missouri admitted into the Union. 
" First settlement of Liberia. 

1824. March 13, convention with Great Britain, for suppression of slave-trade. 
" April 5, convention with Russia in relation to the noi'thwest boundary. 

" August 13, arrival of General Lafayette. 

1825. Mar. 4, John Quincy Adams inaugurated president. 
" Sept. 7, departure of General Lafayette. 

1826. July 4, death of Presidents Adams and Jefferson. 

1829. Feb. 20, resolutions passed by the Virginia house of delegates, denying the 

right of Congress to pass the tarifl" bill. 

" March 4, Andrew Jackson inaugurated president. 

" May 2, hail fell in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to the depth of twelve inches. 
" " 17, death of John Jay, at Bedford, New York. 

" Sept. 15, slavery abolished in Mexico. 

" Nov. 9, separation of Yucatan from Mexico, and union with the republic of 

Central America. 

" Dec. 4, revolution commences in Mexico. 

1830. Jan. 20, General Bolivar resigns his military and civil commissions. 
" " 27, city of Guatemala nearly destroyed by earthquakes. 

" April 4, Yucatan declares its independence. 

1831. Jan. 12, remarkable eclipse of the sun, 
" July 4, death of James Monroe. 

" Oct. 1, free-trade convention at Philadelphia. 

" " 26, tariff convention at New York. 

1832. Feb. 6, attack on Qualla Battoo, in Sumatra, by U. S. frigate Potomac. 

" June 8, cholera breaks out at Quebec, in Canada; being its first appearance 

in America. * 

" Aug. 27, capture of Blackhawk. 

" Sept. 26, university of New York organized. 

" Nov., union and state-rights convention of South Carolina. 

" Dec. 28, John C. Calhoun resigns the office of vice-president. 

1833. Mar. 1, new tarift'-bill signed by the president. 

" " 4, Andrew Jackson inaugurated president for a second term. 

" " il, state-rights convention of South Carolina. 

" " 29, Santa Anna elected president of Mexico. 

" May 16, « inaugurated " 

*< Oct. 1, public deposites removed from the bank of the United States, by order 

of General Jackson. 

" Nov. 13, remarkable meteoric showers in the United States. 

1834. Mar. 28, vote of censure by the senate against General Jackson, for remo- 

ving the deposites. 

1835. April 18, French indemnity-bill passes the chamber of deputies. 
" Dec. 16, great fire in New York. 

1836. April 21, battle of San Jacinto, in Texas. 

" June 14, Arkansas admitted into the Union. 

" Dec. 15, burning of the general postoffice and patent office, at Washington. 

1837. Jan. 26, Michigan admitted into the Union. 

" Mar. 4, Martin Van Buren inaugurated president of the United States. 

1840. Jan. 19, antarctic continent discovered by the U. S. exploring expedition. 
" June 30, sub-treasury bill becomes a law. 

1841. Mar. 4, William Henry Harrison inaugurated president of the United Stales. 
" April 4, death of President Harrison. 

" Aug. 9, sub-treasury bill repealed. 

" " 18, bankrupt act becomes a law. 

1843. March 3, bankrupt act repealed. 

" June 17, Bunker Hill monument celebration. 

1845. Mar. 1, Texas annexed to the United States. 

" " 3, Florida admitted into the Union. 

" " 4, James K. Polk inaugurated president. 

" June 18, death of Andrew Jackson. 

" Dec. 24, Texas admitted into the Union. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 3G3 

1846. May 8, battle of Palo Alto, on the Rio Grande. 
" " 9, battle of Resaca de la Palnia, do. 

« " 13, proclamation of war existing with Mexico. 

« June 18, United States senate advise the president to confirm the Oregon treaty 
with Great Britain. 

« July 28, new United States tariff bill passed. 

" Aug. 3, President Polk vetoes the river and harbor bill. 

« " 6, revolution in Mexico, in favor of Santa Anna. 

« « 8, President Polk vetoes the French spoliation bill. 

« " 10, Congress adjourns. 

" « 18, Brigadier-General Kearney of United States army, takes possession of 

Santa Fe. 

« « 19, Commodore Stockton blockades the Mexican ports on the Pacific. 

« Sept. 21, 22, 23, battles of Monterey, Mexico. 

« " 26, California expedition with Colonel Stevenson's regiment of 780 offi- 

cers and men, sails from New York. 

« Oct. 25, Tabasco in Mexico, bombarded by Commodore Perry. 

" Nov. 14, Commodore Conner takes Tampico. 

« Dec. 6, General Kearney defeats the Mexicans at San Pasqual. 

« « 25, Colonel Doniphan defeats the Mexicans at Brazito, near El Paso. 

« " 28, Iowa admitted into the Union. 

1847. Jan. 8, Mexican Congress resolve to raise fifteen millions of dollars on the prop 

erty of the clergy for the war with the United States. 

« " 8, 9, battles of San Gabriel and Mesa in California, fought by General 

Kearney, who defeats the Mexicans. 

« « 14, revolt of the Mexicans in New Mexico against the United States au- 

thorities. 

« « 24, battle of Canada, in New Mexico. Mexicans defeated by the Americans 

under Colonel Price. 

« Feb. 22, 23, battle of Buena Vista. Mexicans 21,000 in number, under Gen- 
eral Santa Anna, defeated by 4,500 Americans under General Taylor. 

« " 28, battle of Sacramento. Colonel Doniphan, with 924 Americans, defeats 

4,000 Mexicans. 

" Mar. 1, General Kearney declares Cahfornia a part of the United States. 

« " 20, city and castle of Vera Cruz taken by the army and navy of the United 

States, under General Scott and Commodore Perry. 

« April 2, Alvarado taken by the Americans under Lieutenant Hunter. 

« « 18, battle of Cerro Gordo. Mexicans under Santa Anna defeated by the 

Americans under General Scott. 

« " 18, Tuspan in Mexico taken by Commodore Perry. 

« May 1, Smithsonian Institution at Washington, corner-stone laid. 

« Aug. 20, battles of Contreras and Churubusco, in Mexico. Mexicans defeated 
by Americans under General Smith, part of General Scott's command. 

« " 31, new constitution of Illinois adopted by state convention. 

" Sept. 8, battle of Molina del Rey, near the city of Mexico. The Americans 
under General Worth (part of Scott's command), defeat the Mexicans under 
General Santa Anna. 

« « 12, 14, battle of Chapultepec, near Mexico ; the Americans, under Generals 

Scott, Worth, Pillow, and Quitman, defeat the Mexicans under Santa Anna. 
General Scott and American army enter the city of Mexico, on the 14th. 

« • Sept. 13, to Oct. 12, siege of Puebla, held by the Americans against the Mexi- 
cans. The latter repulsed by the former, under Colonel Childs. 

« Oct. 9, the city of Huamantla, in Mexico, taken by the Americans, under Gen- 
eral Lane. 

" " 20, port of Guayamas, in Mexico, bombarded and captured by the Amer- 

icans. 

" Dec. 31, the several Mexican states occupied by the American army placed under 
military contributions. 
1848. Jan. 27, a national convention to nominate president and vice-president called 
by the whig members of Congress. At an adjourned meeting it was resolved 
that the convention meet at Independence Hall, Philadelphia. 



364 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

1848. Feb. 18, By a genera! order, Major-Gr neral Scott turns over the command of 

tlie U. S. army in Mexico to Major-Generai Butler. 

" May 22-26, the democratic national convention at Baltimore nominate Gen- 
eral Lewis Cass of Michigan, for president, and General William 0. Butler 
of Kentucky, for vice-president. 

" " 25, Major-General Scott received by the municip.il authorities of the city 

of New York. There was a large military and civic procession. 

" " 29, Wisconsin admitted into the Union. 

" " 30, treaty of peace between the United States and Mexico, which had been 

signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, Feb. 2, 1848, afterward modified at Washing- 
ton, and confirmed by the Mexican Congress ; ratified by the American com- 
missioners, Sevier and Clifford, and the Mexican minister of foreign rela- 
tions, Don Luis de la Rosa. It was proclaimed in the United States, July 4, 
1848. 

** June 7, 8, the whig national convention meet at Philadelphia, and on the second 
day, fourth ballot, nominate General Zachary Taylor for president, and, on 
second ballot, Hon. Millard Fillmore for vice-president. 

" " 22, 23, democratic convention at Utica, N. Y., nominate Martin Van Buren 

for president and Henry Dodge (who declined June 29) for vice-president. 

" July 4, corner-stone of monument to General Washington, laid at the city of 
Washington. Oration by Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, speaker of the United 
States house of representatives. 

" Aug. 13, Oregon territorial bill, with prohibition of slavery, passed by Con- 
gress. 

« " 9, 10, free-soil convention at Buffalo, nominate Martin Van Buren, of New 

York, for president, and Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, for vice- 
president. Sixteen states were represented by delegates. 

« « 14, Adjournment of 30th Congress, 1st session. 

« « 17, destructive fire at Albany, N. Y. 

" Sept. 9, destructive fire at Brooklyn, N. Y. 

" Nov. 7, presidential election. 

" Dec. 4, meeting of the 30th Congress, second session. 

" " 6, Taylor and Fillmore elected president and vice-president by the electoral 

colleges. 

1849. March 5, inauguration of Zachary Taylor as president, and of Millard Fillmore 

as vice-president, of the United States. 



THE END. 



1776. 



A FAITHFUL CHRONICLE OF THE WAR OF 



AMERICA! INDEPENDENCE. 



(JhUr To every true-hearted American, this is a most 
■welcome and invaluable ■work ; It is the voice of our 
Fathers calling upon us to guard most sacredly the 
precious boon of Freedom, — to purchase and secure 
■which, they offered upon their Country's altar, their 
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. 

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

•' To THE Youth of my beloved Country. 

" Having carefully read and critically examined this work just published, 
entitled ' The War of Independence,' I am enabled to give my opinion of the 
merits of the same, which I do most cheerfully, in conformity with the author's 
request ; although I am conscious that my judgment on a subject of this kind 
is of less value than that of many others of more experience than myself, as 
critics or historians. 

" The peculiar merits of this work appear to me to consist chiefly in its admi- 
rable arrangement in chronological order, and the author confining himself 
strictly to the subject of the Revolution, from its incipient stages to the final 
termination of the contest, and the permanent settlement of our national 
government by the adoption of the Constitution, enabling him to present in 
detail a greater variety of important and interesting facts than are to be found 
in any other compendium of the kind. If any fault is to found on this head, it 
is perhaps in the overcrowding of the narrative of events in the closing chap- 
ters, to which condensation the limited number of pages of the work compelled 
him to conform. 

" Of the performance of that portion of the task, which belonged to him as an 
artist, it becomes not me to speak, having no claims to the character of a con- 
noisseur in the arts, but I may be permitted to say that the general arrange- 
ment and execution of the engravings display originality, judgment, and taste, 
as appears to me, and I think the public will concur with me in placing this 
b»ok before any other illustrated work on the Revolution yet published. 



2 Critical Notices of « 1776." 

" With regard to the tone and spirit of the volume, the felicity of the style of 
narrative and reflections, and the great care taken to insure accuracy, as is 
shown by the author's frequent reference to the best authorities, I am confi- 
dent that he is entitled to the reputation of a competent and faithful historian. 

" With my best wishes for the general circulation of this valuable work 
among you, " I remain yours, 

"EDWIN WILLIAMS." 

F7-om the Knickerhocker Magazine, August, 1847. 

" The enterprising and patriotic-spirited publisher of this exceedingly beauti- 
ful volume will surely find that he has not misjudged, in believing that ' a book 
in one volume, well written, and embracing a faithful chronicle of events which 
accomplished the laying of the foundation-stone of this great republic, would 
be invaluable to the present and future generations.' He has certainly spared 
no expense in the preparation of the work. All the engravings were expressly 
made for it ; and we would invite particular attention to the appendix, which 
contains documents and information that the present generation are but slightly 
familiar with; while the work, in its general mechanical appearance, will be 
found well worthy the patronage of the American people. The volume begins 
with the period of the union of the colonies against the French, and ends with 
the inauguration of Washington. Its numerous engravings, by Mr. Benson 
J. Lossing, reflect great credit upon the skill and care of that capable artist ; 
as does the entire work, indeed, alike upon editor, publisher, illustrator, and 
binder. Its extensive sale must soon become a ' fixed fact.' " 

From the Merchants^ Magazine, September, 1847. 

" Mr. Lossing, the compiler of the present volume, is an engraver of more 
than ordinary skill, possessing a correct literary taste, and is, withal, a chaste 
and graceful writer. In the preparation of the work, his aim seems to have 
been to give a concise, yet complete and comprehensive narrative of the lead- 
ing events of the American Revolution, than which no subject is of more 
general interest to the American people. As far as we are competent to judge, 
he seems to have accomplished successfully all that he proposed, having 
grouped succinctly the more important facts and circumstances connected with 
the rise, progress, and termination of the war, and presented them in a popular 
and attractive form. The facilities aftbrded by previous works, and recent 
biographies of the men who figured more or less conspicuously in the events 
of that memorable period, seem to have been diligently consulted, and the 
materials thus :urnished, used with discrimination. The numerous pictorial 
illustrations are handsomely executed ; and we have seldom seen a work, so 
far as its typographical appearance was concerned, more generally attractive. 
The type and paper on which it is printed, the binding, and, indeed, the entire 
manner of the ' getting up,' reflect great credit on the taste and enterprise 
of Mr. Walker, the publisher." 

From the New York Exjyress. 

" This history of the American Revolution, comprised in a handsome octavo 
volume of over 600 pages, is a valuable contribution to this branch of our lite- 
rature, as we are here presented, in a condensed and cheap form, with the most 
important and interesting portion of our national history. The ponderous 
volumes of Gordon, Andrews, Marshall, and other writers, containing the details 
of our revolutionary history, are accessible to only a small portion of modern 
readers; while the imperfections of such histories as Botta's, Ramsay's, and 
others, are so well known as to prevent a general reliance on them for authority. 
It will be admitted, therefore, we think, that a concise popular narrative of our 
Revolutionary War, embracing clear and connected details of the causes and 
events of that momentous period, is a desideratum. 



Critical Notices of " 1776." 

" "We are happy to say that the want referred to is snpphed in the work now 
before us, which is executed with admirable skill and taste, and profusely 
embellished with handsome engravings on wood, which possess the novelty of 
being from the same hand to whom the reader is indebted for the pleasing 
narrative and reflections contained in the volume. 

" Mr. Lossino-, although favorably known to the public as an artist, whose skill 
is displayed in many of^the best illustrated works of the day, has had but little 
experience as an author, but his present effort in the latter capacity cannot fail 
to give him an enviable reputation as an historian. The arrangement of the 
work, its tone and spirit, and the studied regard for accuracy displayed by the 
writer, combined with a felicitous style, are sure to commend it to the favor of 
all classes of readers. The copious index, occupying 19 pages, with about 
1 ,500 references, is sufficient proof of the great variety of matter embraced ir. 
this compendium, while the body of the work is enriched with interesting notes, 
thus adding greatly to its value. The appendix is a unique collection of docu 
ments, relating to the Revolution and the adoption of the Constitution. 

" The book ts elegantly printed and bound, and the engravings (seventy-eight 
in number) form in themselves a rare historical gallery of great interest and 
variety, displaying the originality and taste of the author-artist in this depart- 
ment. As a whole, we have no hesitation in commending this volume as the 
best popular history of our Revolution yet published." 

From the New York Evening Post. 

" It contains in a single volume the annals of our Revolutionary War, suc- 
cinctly drawn up, yet noting all the events of historical importance and relating 
them with clearness. These are illustrated with engravings, which are the 
work of the author, Benson J. Lossing, and the whole is got up in a superb 
manner." 

From the New York Alias. 

« This will be one of the most widely circulated works ever issued from the 
press. It gives, without unnecessary prolixity in detail, a full and complete 
narrative of ' The War of Independence,' a history of the Anglo-Americans, 
from the period of the union of the colonies against the French, to the inaugu- 
ration of Washington, illustrated by numerous engravings of plans of battles, 
prominent events, interesting localities, and portraits of distinguished men of 
the period. Of the latter there are forty-five. These, and all the other engrav- 
ings, reflect great credit on the artistical skill of Mr. Lossing, who is both the 
author and illustrator of the work. To the work is added an appendix and 
analytical index, alphabetically arranged. The appendix contains several state 
documents of great interest to every American. They are drawn from sources 
not generally accessible. The work is got up by Mr. Walker in superb style ; 
the letter-press, and the paper on which it is printed, are alike beautiful. The 
book is elegantly bound and gilt. The plates on the sides and back are en- 
graved on brass, expressly for the work, by Thompson. They represent Wash- 
ington receiving his commission, the capture of Major Andre, and other national 
subjects, and are alike tasteful and beautiful." 

From the Evening Mirror. 

" This is the title of a very elegant-looking book of some 500 pages, published 
by Edwai-d Walker, 114 Fulton street. The author, or compiler, is Benson J. 
Lossing, a name new to us in literature. The work is beautifully illustrated 
with a great number of engravings, and the typography and binding are abso- 
lutely faultless. It contains a great amount and variety of information relating 
to the Revolutionary period of American history, and is a work which will 
doubtless command a very extensive sale. Of the purely literary merits of 
the work we shall be better able to speak when we have found time to read it.' 



4 Critical Notices of " 1776." 

From the Farmer and Mechanic. 

"The publisher has displayed his usual enterprise in giving to the work a 
beautiful and attractive exterior, and affording it a good quality of paper, and 
clear, open print. The author, B. J. Lossing, Esq., in seventy-eight well chosen 
and finely executed illustrations, has shown a skill as an artist worthy of his 
high reputation, while the style of the work is a model for history, and an 
honorable illustration of the refinement of intellectual power, which is being 
developed in this country, in connexion with the exercise of practical mechanics 
and tlie arts. 

" The subject will commend the work to the patronage of every true Ameri- 
can, as a patriotic mind must delight to dwell on the struggles which developed 
the strength of republican principles, and gave birth and features to this great 
and growing nation. This is emphatically the book for the million, based as 
it is on facts, and making its highest ostensible aim the dissemination of useful 
and entertainv/ig knowledge." 

From the Neiv York Observer. 

" In point of typographical execution, press-work, paper, and external embel- 
lishment, this book is one of the most beautiful issues of the press, a credit to 
the American arts. It is also illustrated by a series of wood cuts, of plans of 
battles, prominent events, interesting localities, and portraits of distinguished 
men, these cuts being handsome specimens of skill in that art by Lossing &, 
Barritt. The author of this volume is himself an artist, and in his new voca- 
tion as a writer, shows that the pen is a tool which he is able to handle with 
success, the work being done in a style of neatness, purity, and strength, tljat 
commends it to the favor of the reader, and renders its perusal attractive to all. 
We are sure that in compiling and illustrating this volume, Mr. Lossing has 
done his countrymen a good service, and we hope that his work will be very 
widely circulated. It is as concise and complete a history of the Revolution aa 
we have seen. The Appendix contains some documents of great value and 
interest, rarely embodied in historical compilations, and we are glad to have 
them within reach." 

From the Albany Spectator. 

" This is a great national work, the beauties and excellences of which 
should be studied by every one who would understand the history of human 
freedom, and the inalienable rights of man. Especially should it be fresh in 
the memory of the youth of our country, to whom it is affectionately inscribed 
by its artist-author — whose love for his land, steady perseverance in the ad- 
vance to eminence, and present fame, commend him as one worthy of their 
regard, and his example as deserving of their imitation. Lossing's course, 
since he left the Poughkeepsie Telegraph, has been onward and upward ; and 
in no effort does he merit so much of the approbation of his countrymen as in 
this, in the execution of which he has been IJoth composer and artist, designing 
and finishing with his own hand the seventy-eight illustrative engravings of 
plans, battles, scenes, characters, ruins, seals, &c., which adorn the work. Mr. 
Walker has issued it in a style of beauty and elegance worthy of the subject 
the author, and his country." 

From the True Sun. 

•" 1776 ; OR THE War of Independence.' — Edward Walker, 114 Fulton 
street, has just issued a volume bearing the above title, which does honor to 
the city, both in its design and in its execution. It contains, in a single volume 
of 520 pages, a History of the Anglo-Americans, from the period of the union 
of the Colonies against the French to the Inauguration of Washington, and is 
illustrated by numerous engravings of the lirst class of art, of the Declaration 



L6 ":} 



Jf. 



